Twilight Sparkle the Adventurer

Chapter 5 – Shortcuts lead to Long Delays

It was dawn when Twilight awoke. Hadvar was holding onto her, still enjoying her warmth. If she was being honest with herself, she liked how he held her. He had been loving and gentle… without crossing boundaries. She would be lying if she didn’t admit, at least to herself, that part of her wished she could just stay in a place like Riverwood and settle down. The idea of being a Heroine or a Goddess was still too much for her to process, but it was clear that she was here for a reason. A reason more than what Celestia had originally said.

Hadvar grabbed her tighter as she moved to get up. He whispered. “Leaving already?”

Twilight snuggled back into him to whisper back. “Yes. If I’m going to get the golden claw back, I’ll need an early start. I’ll be in a world of hurt if it’s after nightfall when I leave the barrow. My armor just isn’t warm enough to travel at night.”

Hadvar sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t go at all…”

Twilight sighed as well. “You could always go with me… watch my back.”

Hadvar shook his head. “I can’t risk being accused of looting and if I’m well enough to explore a ruin with you then I’m well enough to return to my post in Solitude. Unfortunately, there are both advantages and disadvantages to being posted to a position as important as mine.”

Twilight frowned at the true, but inconvenient answer. “Well… if you don’t want me to go to the ruin alone, and you can’t go with me, and I can’t stay here… then what should I do?”

Hadvar shrugged slightly. “My Uncle already asked you to request aide from the Jarl of Whiterun. I would suggest that you go to Whiterun first and get more supplies before you head to Bleak Falls Barrow. Whiterun has two blacksmiths, a general store, an alchemy shop, and the Jarl’s court wizard probably sells spells and other mage supplies that won’t find elsewhere. I would love it if you gained more levels or obtained better armor or both, before going into a place as dangerous as any Ancient Nord ruin. Who knows… maybe you could even join the Companions Warrior Guild. Having a Shield Brother or Shield Sister watching your back might be better than even I could manage. At the very least, you probably need more gold. For all the stuff you took from the Keep… you repurposed over half of it, turning it into ingots. You don’t have much of that original loot to sell and you would probably have to sell what’s left in a larger town anyways.”

Twilight considered his point at face value. “Going to Whiterun first always seemed to make more sense to me. I was going to go to Whiterun before deciding if I wanted to head to the College of Winterhold or to Solitude. Agreeing to retrieve the Golden Claw was just a way to make some gold which I’ll need for my journey. What will Lucan say if he has to wait for me to finish his request?”

Hadvar nodded, serious. “The hard truth of it is that if you can’t take out a few small bandit camps… then the Draugr will eat you alive. Lucan would also prefer for you to survive. I suspect that the payment he is offering you is less than it would cost to hire a professional. You need to practice your combat skills in smaller, less dangerous situations. Also… you’re worried about freezing to death while traveling, which is a valid concern. A lot of bandits use fur armor. Fur armor is the cheapest armor available and wouldn’t sell for much anyways. You could probably tear the armor apart and use it to give your armor a fur lining that would not only enhance the defense but also improve the ‘warmth rating.’ Anything you can loot or recover from the camps will add to either your supplies or add to what you can sell. When all else fails… there is no such thing as having too much gold.”

Twilight gave up on the argument. “Fine. I’ll go to Whiterun first but you’re going to tell Lucan why he’s going to have to wait longer for his claw to be returned while I sneak out of town. I’m not sure I can face him knowing that I’m not immediately going to work on his request.”

Hadvar smiled as he kissed her gently on the cheek. “I’ll gladly bear that burden if you survive your trip into the barrow as a result of talking the time to prepare for it better.”

Twilight blushed fiercely while she pushed him back some, causing the blankets to slip. “Do that again and I’ll shock the Tartarus out of you.”

Hadvar raised his hands placatingly but looked down at her chest. “Fine… you win. At least get dressed before you threaten me… little pony.”

Twilight looked down at her nakedness and huffed. Her chest was smaller than most of the adult women she had seen so far but her chest wasn’t that small…

She huffed. “Stallions…”

Hadvar chuckled at her reaction as he turned the other way… trying to give her the illusion of privacy while she dressed. Twilight wasn’t sure why he bothered… he had already seen her naked. The thoughts coursed through her head while she considered her feelings.

Hadvar is nicer than Sven and more honorable than Faendal, but he also couldn’t resist a playful jab at my expense. Maybe that was just part of courtship here? Maybe there was more to it than simply doing a favor, in some cases…

Another thought crossed her mind and she winced. “I have to go to the Riverwood Trader General Store before I leave anyways. Camilla owes me a spell for helping her last night.”

Hadvar didn’t turn towards her. “I hope it was worth it. Playing matchmaker like that is challenging and carries the risk of making enemies. If you really want to help spread love… you should consider becoming a Priestess of Mara. I’m sure that the Temple of Mara in Riften or the Temple of the Eight Divines in Solitude could help you figure out if that would be a good move for you.”

Twilight finished dressing in record time and turned towards him. “For what it’s worth. I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve spent with you. I know you wanted more… but adventuring is as dangerous a lifestyle as being a soldier is during a war. I think I was just trying to shield my heart in case I never see you again.”

Hadvar finally turned towards her. “There is no need to apologize. I do understand. We will see each other again if you join the legion.”

Twilight closed the distance and hugged him tightly. “I’ll see you later then.”

With that, she left Alvor’s house. She crossed the street to the Riverwood Trader and discovered that the front door was unlocked even though the shop wasn’t officially open yet.

Camilla was behind the counter. “Good! I was hoping you’d show up early. My brother doesn’t usually wake until the last second to open the shop, opting to skip breakfast in favor of a larger lunch. Here are all the spell tomes that we have. Pick one as a reward for helping me.”

Twilight looked over her options. After careful consideration, the Alternation spell ‘Oakflesh’ was her best option. Increasing her physical defense sounded like a good idea. Twilight asked Camilla more about the spell, hoping for some insight from a native of this world.

Camilla furrowed her brows in thought. “Um. I’m no mage, but if the spell description means anything, it increases your armor rating by 40 points for 20 minutes. So… ideally, you cast it on yourself before you start the battle and it’ll help reduce physical damage but not magical damage. It’s a novice level spell but fairly expense to cast. You should consider getting Novice Alternation mastery at some point to reduce the casting cost.”

Twilight nodded, grateful for the advice. “I’ll take that one. Thanks.”

Camilla gave Twilight the tome and she learned the spell. She went ahead and cast the spell on herself to see how it felt. She seemed to be covered in a magical aura, but she didn’t feel any different.

Twilight shrugged and smiled at Camilla. “I hope it actually reduces the damage I take from hits. At my level… I don’t have a lot of health.”

Camilla winced at the obvious jab about Twilight’s own mortality. “I was thinking that maybe you should go to Whiterun first and stock up on supplies. We just don’t have enough of what the average adventurer needs for a ruin that dangerous…”

Twilight’s head cocked at the advice. “That’s funny. Hadvar said the same thing. I’ll see you soon. Try not to hire any other adventurers to go get the claw. I just need some time.”

Camilla snorted. “Don’t worry. My brother won’t spend any gold that he doesn’t have to.”

Twilight chuckled at that but then remembered something. “Um. How do I get to Whiterun from here?”

Camilla pointed. “Just take the main road out of town and over the bridge. After a little bit of a winding path, you’ll come to a fork in the road. The path to the right will take you over a bridge and towards Windhelm and the path to the left will take you past the Honningbrew Meadery and towards Whiterun. Here… I’ll mark it on your map.”

Twilight was shocked to see that she had a map, given that she didn’t remember obtaining one but was grateful for a clear goal. “Any other last minute advise you can give?”

Camilla frowned. “If you’re going to stock up on supplies… you’re going to need the gold to buy those supplies. I would check the Inn before you leave town. Most Innkeepers know what current bounties are being offered.”

Twilight nodded to her and left, finally finished with her business. Opting to follow Camilla’s advice, Twilight went to the Sleeping Giant Inn and walked straight to the bar.

“Good morning, Delphine. I’m looking for work… do you have any leads?”

Delphine nodded. “The Jarl’s men left this bounty letter for the bandits of Halted Stream Camp. From what I hear… it’s one of the larger and more dangerous camps. You should be careful.”

Twilight gulped. Not quite what I was hoping for.

“Any other offers?”

Delphine shook her head. “The Jarl can usually only afford to offer a bounty on one bandit camp at a time. You see… the Civil War has hit all of the Jarls hard on tax collection. Reduced trade means reduced taxes. Killing bandits helps restore trade but still costs gold. If you want a different job, you’ll have to travel to one of the 8 other holds and just hope they have work. And even then… the work will be killing bandits, killing giants, killing Forsworn or hunting down dangerous wildlife up to and including… maybe even dragons.”

Twilight supposed that made sense. “How do I collect the bounties and how much should I expect?”

Delphine winced at having to explain something that should be common knowledge. She decided it would be best to explain the whole bounty process now so some other poor barkeep wouldn’t have to.

“Most bounties involving wildlife are set as a standard rate throughout the province. Wolves are generally worth 10 gold each, but the more powerful Ice wolf is worth 25 gold. Bears are generally worth 25 gold each, but the more powerful Snow Bears can be worth up to 50 gold if the Jarl finds them problematic enough. Sabre Cats are worth 25 gold and Snow Sabre Cats can be worth 50 gold. Trolls will generally rate 50 gold each if a bounty is offered. Giants sometimes make the list if they become a big enough nuisance. The bounty for a Giant is usually 100 gold… which isn’t enough, in my opinion, for how dangerous they are. There’s no telling what a dragon will be worth if a bounty is offered… I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Most other wildlife are never dangerous enough to warrant a bounty although you will occasionally find a bounty for Spiggans… if you believe that they even exist.

The average bandit is worth 25 gold and the Bandit Chief is worth 100 gold. Forsworn in the Western part of Skyrim are more dangerous than the average bandit. They are worth 50 gold for each Forsworn and 200 or for a Hagraven or the ‘Briarheart’ leader of a particular camp. To collect the bounty for bandits or forsworn, you need to cut off both ears of each person killed. Each full set gives you the bounty. In the case of animals… the pelt is usually enough.”

Twilight was shocked silent. When she finally could speak, it was a whisper. “That seems… like a small amount of gold. Is life so cheap here?”

Delphine shrugged. “The murder of an innocent person will give you a wanted bounty of 1,000 gold. If captured afterwards… you’d have to serve your time in jail or pay off the bounty, which is, of course, taxed by the Jarl and the rest is given to the victim’s family. The rich can literally get away with murder. But for poor criminals being hunted… yes… life is so cheap.”

Twilight shook off the sense of wrongness in the statement. “Can you put the camp’s location on my map please?”

Delphine nodded and honored the request. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.”

Twilight decided not to retort to the other negative comment and simply left the Inn. She started to follow the road towards the general direction of Whiterun at first but then decided to cut across the countryside and head in the most direct route to the Halted Stream Camp.

This proved to be a mistake.

She first encountered a wolf. She was surprised by its sudden appearance, but she was able to quickly take it down with magic. Being by itself, it was no challenge for her, but she was forced to skin it out of fear of not wanting to waste anything. It didn’t take long since all she was harvesting was the pelt, but it was still time she’d rather not waste.

After a bit of more travel… she came up on a grove of trees on a hill near the camp that she was travelling to when she encountered a Saber Cat. Larger than wolf and much more powerful… Twilight found herself dodging the attacks while showering the beast with sparks. The large apex predator’s HP was far above a mere wolf and Twilight took her first big hit from the claws of the cat. Her HP dropped a fair amount.

Oh Celestia… I forgot to cast Oakflesh after it wore off earlier. That hurt…

Twilight equipped the Oakflesh spell in her left hand while wielding an Imperial Sword in her right hand. She cast the protective spell over herself, gaining a point of Alternation magic, raising it to 21, and then just barely blocked another attack with the sword. She still took damage, but it was far less between the spell and the block.

So… it’s like adding an extra layer of armor. Or wearing a better type of armor. It doesn’t prevent damage, but it does reduce it as if I was wearing better armor. That’s… useful. 40 points of armor rating would be the difference between basic Imperial Armor and something like… Scaled Armor? Alvor had told me what all the Light Armor types was when we were working the forge together, but I wasn’t paying as close of attention as I should have.

Twilight dropped the spell in favor of a shield and did a proper block with the shield while using a power strike with the sword. The successful block knocked the cat off balance and the power attack had done a fair amount of damage. In the time this took, her magicka reserves were building back up fast, so she went back to Sparks to finish the cat off. It fell before her magical might and she gained a point of destruction skill, raising it to 26.

A closer fight than I would have wanted. And this is just the wildlife! Hadvar was right… the draugr will kill me if I rush into a ruin unprepared. I need to pay closer attention to Oakflesh wearing off. The cost of casting it during battle put me at risk. But I am closer to the next level now. Of course… I wanted more skill training before I leveled up.

Twilight sighed as she skinned the cat for its pelt and then took both eyes and all 4 paws as alchemy reagents. She also sat in the grass and used a healing spell to heal all of her wounds. Once fully healed, she took the time to eat a quick lunch consisting of one of the salmon steaks she had cooked previously while waiting for her magicka to fully recover. Fed and rested, she cast Oakflesh once again and crouched down into a sneak stance while she approached the camp.

There were three bandits visible on the outside of the camp and what looked like a cave or mine shaft that led deeper into the camp underground. She sighed as she assessed her situation.

I could turn around and head to Whiterun. Maybe I could hire some help or find someone who would be willing to accept half the bounty as the payment after the fact. No. These people aren’t very trusting… they will want the gold up front, and I don’t have enough to pay for their services. A frontal attack is probably suicide with my armor being nearly the weakest in the realm. I guess… it’s time to put those archery lessons to good use.

Twilight drew her Imperial Bow from her backpack and equipped both the bow and the steel arrows. Looking at her possible targets, the first one that stood out was a female bandit sitting in a chair on a raised platform. Twilight assessed the situation further.

The bandit was probably working as a lookout watching one of the main paths leading to the camp, but she is focused solely on the road and not of other possible threats around the camp. She’s practically a sitting duck… and a prefect stationary target.

Twilight fell back into the training Faendal had given her. Deep breath. Notch the arrow. Breath out. Deep breath. Draw the bow. Breath out. Deep breath. Hold. Aim. Fire!

The arrow sailed through the sky like an unstoppable force. Perfectly aimed, the arrow went through the un-armored part of her chest, just above her breasts, and right through her heart. She didn’t even make a sound as she died instantly. And the other two bandits didn’t seem to notice.

Twilight’s sneak skill went up from 15 to 17, the experience from the sneak attack being increased by the Thief’s stone, further enhanced from being well fed and rested and from the successful attack resulting in a kill.

Twilight shifted her aim to a non-human that her magically infused knowledge from the Elder Scroll was telling her was an Orc. He was huge and clearly a warrior and she didn’t want any part of that. She went through the process again and let loose an arrow that seemed to fly perfectly straight and hit the Orc in the back right where the heart would be, and he fell.

Twilight’s sneak went up again by one point to 18 but the death of the Orc did alert the last bandit in the camp. That bandit seemed to home in on her and charged out of the camp through a gate and directly towards her. Not at all confident and shooting at an enraged moving target, Twilight put away her bow in favor of her magic.

With Sparks in both hands, she started to fire the spell as soon as the bandit entered range. As a mage himself, he found his magicka drained from the onslaught of Sparks coming from both of her hands and ended up dying without doing any damage to Twilight at all.

With that, Twilight set about to the unpleasant work of looting the corpses. She took the weapons, armor and all the items she could find. Exploring the camp, she found one locked treasure chest to open and another unlocked one that had a simple booty trap to avoid.

The booty trapped chest had some gold and Spell Tome of Frost. Twilight eagerly learned the spell, knowing that she now knew all three of the novice level destruction magic spells. The locked chest was Apprentice level and Twilight frowned at her own clumsiness as she broke 2 lockpicks before managing to open the chest. The locked chest proved to be something of a tease. Only having a little gold and a one-time use spell ‘Scroll of Guardian Circle.’

Twilight had no doubt that the Scroll of Guardian Circle could be useful in Bleak Falls Barrow but given its value, she was more interested in selling it. The loss of so many lockpicks on a seemingly easy chest gave her pause.

I have plenty of iron ingots. I need to make more lockpicks before I go into the barrow.

A deeper thought stuck her harder.

I helped Alvor make a lock while he was teaching me the basics. Locks are made from corundum. If I make lockpicks out of steel… they would last a lot longer.

Twilight continued to wander around the camp, gathering food and other useful tools while considering the possibility of making steel lockpicks.

Alvor had said that it wasn’t impossible to make tools out of steel but most people prefer iron tools so the steel can be used for more important things like weapons and armor. I suppose it would be impractical for mass production, but nothing is stopping me from making my own personal stock of steel tools for my own use.

After gathering all the food and anything else of use, she went back into sneak mode and opened the door to the mineshaft. She slowly crept forward, avoiding a poorly hidden trap button that would drop rocks on her from overhead. At the base of the ramp she had walked down, she was able to see a bandit wearing Iron Heavy Armor using a pickaxe to mine ore at the end of the current shaft.

That’s not good. If he gets more ore, then he might could improve his gear. Bandits are hard enough in light armor. Heavy Armor is a challenge I’m not sure I want to face. But… that is Iron Armor… my arrows are made of steel.

Deciding to trust her training and her gear, she followed the same practiced steps.

She notched the arrow, drew the bow, took a deep breath, aimed, and fired.

The arrow flew true and hit the bandit in the back right where the heart should be. The bandit himself flew forward into the rock face where he had been mining. If the arrow hadn’t killed him, then braining himself on the rocks would have.

She decided to try her hand at mining ore later but looked around. There were at least 5 mammoth tasks in a cart separate from the armor and weapons to loot. She looted the gear off the bandit and placed all the gathered gear into either the weapon or armor storage portals as well as the mammoth tasks in the miscellaneous portal. After a moment, she also found the keys that opened the door leading deeper into the mine.

She proceeded cautiously, careful not to break her sneak as she travelled further down. Once she cleared the passageway, she saw at least 3 more bandits… including the bandit chief. The Chief was another huge Orc, this time wearing a full set of Steel Armor. One of the other bandits was a dark elf and the last one was another female… Nord or Breton, Twilight couldn’t make out which at this distance.

Three on One isn’t great odds. Wait… what is that?

Above two of the bandits was a round thing that looked like a trap of sorts. She saw another one near where the Chief was, but she also saw a spell tome on a nearby table near the Chief and knew that she couldn’t risk damaging it. Taking a chance, she drew her bow and shot the round vessel and then retreated back up the ramp. Shortly afterwards, she heard an explosion and screams of pain followed by an angry roar. She sat patiently and waited for a sign. She could hear the remaining bandit talking to himself…

The Bandit Chief sighed. “No sign of an intruder… so that thing falling was just an accident? What bad luck… I’ll have to tell the others about it tomorrow.”

Twilight crept back down the ramp and saw the bandit chief walking away from her. She took a chance to fire a final steel arrow from her bow, striking the bandit in the back with bonus sneak attack damage, but not killing him. The Orc roared a challenge as he charged back up the ramp and Twilight put away the bow in favor of her Sparks spell in both hands. The Bandit Chief ran straight into the Sparks and was showered by them as he continued to charge.

Twilight dodged out of the way of his forward charge; his great sword lodged into a wooden support beam while she peppered him with unending sparks. His attempts to dislodge his weapon ended with his own death as he finally fell to the sparks.

Twilight sighed with relief as she wiped sweat off of her brow.

That was too close.

She made quick work of the room, looting all 3 bandits, unlocking a locked chest, retrieving the spell tome to read later, and opening the main treasure chest.

The locked chest held a small amount of gold, almost not worth unlocking. The main chest held an old iron sword that might hold sentimental value but looked useless plus some more gold and an enchanted weapon.

Steel Sword of Soul Trap. I’ll probably have to figure out how to use this to learn the enchantment. I still don’t know any enchantments.

Looking around the room, she retrieved a dozen books that she didn’t already have, more mammoth tasks, plus an axe called the Poachers Axe. A dead mammoth was in the middle of the room.

Should I skin it? That feels like a lot of work… Damn it… I can’t afford to waste anything.

It took her a few hours, but she skinned the mammoth and also took 100 cuts of mammoth that would make mammoth steaks from the fresh kill. There was more she could have cut, but she lacked the one-handed skill to make more cuts from the kill. The uncooked portion of mammoth weighted 3 pounds each so she efficiently maxed out her Reagents storage portal with some of the meat left over in her regular backpack. Looting every sack within the mine, she found plenty of salt piles and a few other food ingredients.

Satisfied that she had absolutely everything she was able to loot, she grabbed a pickaxe and tried her hand at mining the ore veins. She ended up with 36 iron ore and 3 corundum ore. The mine had a smelter, but she knew that her storage portals plus her normal backpack was full to bursting so she knew she’d need to wait until she reached Whiterun to do any major repurposing of weapons, armor and other loot.

As an afterthought, she cut off the ears of all the bandits as she exited the bandit camp. It was dark… and very cold… by the time she started to run for Whiterun. Her armor wasn’t keeping her warm enough and she could feel herself starting to freeze to death, her health bar slowly shrinking in a way that healing magic couldn’t fix.

Damn it… I knew I was spending too much time in there! But… it’s not like I could hide in the mine until morning. What if some other adventurer took the same request I did? I wouldn’t want to fight a random Adventurer if they thought I was one of the bandits in the camp.

She didn’t even have a torch to warm her slightly as she ran towards town. Casting Flames towards random objects as she ran didn’t help either.

I don’t know where the nearest campground is. If I can’t start a real fire or get inside soon… I’m going to die…

At least she wasn’t overburdened so she could still run… but even running didn’t seem to warm her up in the darkness of a near arctic environment.

As she followed the path, it became clear that Whiterun really wasn’t that far from the Halted Stream Camp. If she had to run back to Riverwood or to Rorikstead, she might not have made it, but before she knew it, she was in front of the main gates to Whiterun.

Two guards halted her progress. “Halt. No entry with the dragons about. Official business only.”

For the love of Celestia, these guys don’t care that I could die out here? Wait…

Twilight cleared her throat and tried to sound official. “Riverwood calls for the Jarls aide.”

The guard sounded stunned, but it was hard to tell with that full face helmet. “Riverwood is in trouble too? You better go on in. The Jarl is in Dragon’s Reach. The Castle at the top of the hill.”

As the gate opened to let her in, Twilight only had one thought.

I made it…