Fire On The Mountain (A Skyrim Quest)

Do'azda's Character Sheet
Name: Do'azda Khrimnin
Race: Khajiit (Suthay-Raht)
Gender: Female
Age: 22
Profession: Shaman
Appearance/Description: She stands at a normal height for a Suthay-raht, that is to say, shorter than most men or mer, but not by too much. Her fur is a warm, rich orange, paler around her muzzle and down her neck, and her eyes are startlingly yellow. Her hair is braided, with rings that jangle faintly when she turns her head too fast. Her robes are basic, and worn from age, but have been fastidiously cleaned.
Level: 7
XP: 0/120

Alchemy: 25
Alteration: 5
Archery: 5
Block: 6
Conjuration: 40
Destruction: 5
Enchanting: 5
Heavy Armor: 5
Illusion: 35
Light Armor: 20
Lock Picking: 1
One-Handed: 21
Pickpocket: 5
Restoration: 15
Smithing: 1
Sneak: 20
Speech: 27
Survival: 13
Two-Handed: 5

They say it kills cats - Do'azda has few restraints on her inquisitive nature, asking whatever questions occur to her, paying little attention to whether this may be considered rude. Whatever else, at least Do'azda never finds herself regretting her failure to ask about something.

Dancing the night away - Do'azda is a fine dancer in the Elsweyr style, where dances are not the slow, ritualised partnering of the Altmer, but instead are a whirling piece of performance art, with the dancer's emotions informing the dance more than any practiced steps. Do'azda can feel the music in her bones, and can dance to only a drumbeat.

In the shadow of the moon - Do'azda was blessed even as she began her journey to become a shaman. A priestess of Azurah, the Mistress of Dusk and Dawn, favoured daughter of Fadomai, received a vision. Azurah's light shines favourable upon her.

Tangled Tails--Do'azda has had flings before, "Tangled Tails" as the euphemism goes, and she's willing to engage in casual relationships or 'one-night marriages' if the opportunity arises.

Racial Perks--

Claws--She has very wicked claws indeed.
Darksight--She can see incredibly well in the dark.

Skill Perks--

Conjuring Efficiency (10): Do'zada knows how to be careful with her Magicka without losing any power when she's Conjuring, and can use such magic more freely and easier when fighting or in other circumstances. (Cojuration)

Mystic Binding (20): Do'azda gains skill at creating bound weapons of magic, so that she is never without her arms no matter what. She also becomes more skilled at creating bound objects of all types, and begins to study that which might allow one to bind a soul into a gem. (Conjuration)

Haggling 1 (0): Everything in Skyrim is far more expensive, and so Do'azda should probably try to figure out how to make do with what little gold she has. (Speech)

Insight (20): One of the key elements of persuasion is knowing what would convince someone. Do'azda now knows how to evaluate what kinds of arguments and reasoning would convince different people if she spends enough time to get a feeling for how they think. (Speech)

Agile Defender (10): Armor is often hard to get used to, so figuring out how to move with light armor so as to reduce how bad a hit is is something you can only learn by doing… and Do'azda has begun to 'do.' (Light Armour)

Rahjin Perks

Laughter-Silvered Wings (Level 5): A flying companion does not simply owe its speed to its physical form, but the strength of its spirit, and so it tends to be faster and more manuverable than its terrestrial version, harder to hit, and a greater predator of the sky.

(Next at Level 8)

Blur - Do'azda knows a spell to obscure her features at a distance, to render her indistinguishable from another Khajiit. Up close, it is almost pathetically ineffective, however.
Clairvoyance - Do'azda is granted flashes of insight into the path to her goal by Azurah - the Goddess of Dawn and Dusk sees much of the land.
Conjure Animal - Do'azda reaches onto Hircine's hunting ground and recalls the imprint of an animal which perished nearby to fight by her side
Conjure Axe - Do'azda can create a hatchet from pure magic. It is too cumbersome for effective use in combat, but for cutting wood, it is more than adequate
Bound Dagger--As she has learned how to better summon such things, she has figured out how to use a Bound Dagger.
Courage - Do'azda uses magic to inspire in another the will to fight, though currently only to instill confidence in victory, not to cause conflict where none exists.
Summon Familiar - Do'azda reaches into her own soul to bring forth her familiar, the falcon Rajhin. No mere shade, Rajhin remains with her until slain and can do far more than just fight, but cannot be summoned for a day and a night thereafter if killed.
Fear - This spell pulls from the mind a fear that the target has, and creates from this the feeling of fear.
Distraction - Creates sounds and sights on the edge of perception. Sights and sounds determined by the caster.
Healing Wounds - The caster uses their magicka to seal the wounds of the target. All healing occurs in a single burst.
Conjure Flame Atronach - Do'azda can call forth a spirit of Infernace, a being of fire, constrained in a form of iron.
Flames - Do'azda can release a gout of fire from her palm, directly setting alight her foe, though only for so long as she feeds magicka to the fire.
Lesser Ward - Do'azda can use her magic to create a shield of magical energy, blocking low level magical attacks, reducing high level magical attacks and mitigating the damage of physical attacks.

Do'azda can make...

Potion of Minor Healing - Bruises fade, cuts close, aching muscles relax, this potion provides a little relief from injuries. The first potion a young shaman will learn to brew.
Potion of Suppress Disease - A potion which will suppress the symptoms of a disease for several days; oftentimes long enough for the body to get the cold or flu from its system. More serious or outright magical diseases will return with a vengeance once the potion's effects wear out, but it is a useful potion to know how to craft.

FUS - Force
WULD - Whirlwind

FUS DAH--Force Push


Gold Septim (365)
Trail Rations (x4)
Fine Rations
A very nice dress for casual-formal occasions.
A lovely dress in the gothic style, with an enchantment of illusory power woven into it.
Iron Axe--An iron axe of low quality.
Steel Axe - A steel axe of decent quality
Iron Dagger--An iron dagger of mediocre quality.
Mage Robes--Increase magical regeneration, but provides little protection, discouraging getting up close and personal.
Leather Armor--Comfortable, lightweight armor, it counteracts the discouragement from getting up close, though as an extra layer it means it can get extra hot.
Lunar Steel War Axe--An Axe which can, in the light of the moon, drink in the life-force of its victims and use it to restore that of its weilder.
Steel Dagger (x2)--A well-worn but very useful steel dagger.
Alchemical Kit--A very fine kit for the creation of potions. One careful owner.
Stormcloak Token--A token from Ulfric Stormcloak himself...
Underclothes--You know.
One Powerful Enchanted Sword (Rusted)--A sword of unknown value, it has a rather potent and interesting enchantment attached to it.

Spell Tome: Illumination--A spell tome is a sort of book that can fully teach you a new spell, but it is destroyed in the process. For such a minor spell it is probably only a few hours of reading to fully learn. This allows Do'azda to create a light in the darkness... less useful for a Khajiit, but still a spell of value.
Spell Tome: Thieves Vision--A spell tome is a sort of book that can fully teach you a new spell, but it is destroyed in the process. For such a minor spell, it is probably only a few hours of reading to fully learn. This simple spell gives one slightly better night vision… but is also notable for being able to see writing hidden by weak illusions, and thus is commonly used by thieves trying to read the secret messages of other thieves.
Spell Tome: Turn Undead--A spell tome is a sort of book that can fully teach you a new spell, but it is destroyed in the process. A spell of moderate difficulty, it will take several nights of reading to learn it. A spell technically of the "Restoration" school, which puts fear into nearby undead. When cast powerfully, burns them most terribly.
Spell Tome: Sparks--A spell tome is a sort of book that can fully teach you a new spell, but it is destroyed in the process. For such a minor spell, it is probably only a few hours of reading to fully learn. Allows a mage to fire sparks of arcane lightning, sapping the magicka reserves of the target whilst also burning through their flesh.
3 Doses of Frostbite Venom in Magicka bottles--Toxic and acidic to living flesh, it has little effect on the glass bottle.
Healing Potion

Troll Fat, other ingredients
100 Septims
3 gems of good quality.
Troll Hide
Troll Skull
Troll Eyes x3
Troll Claws

A Handy Guide to Lockpicks: A book that should teach Do'azda all she wants to know about Lockpicks, and more. Each read will give +1 to Lockpicking, and it can be read thrice to wring out all possible knowledge from it. (2/3 reads remaining)
Journal of a Potema Loyalist: A journal of some historical merit, belonging to one of Potema's most loyal supporters in her early years.
 
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[X] [Destination] The Reach is far away, and normally much too far away to consider going just this moment. But two things tempt one in this direction. First is that there is some task needed to pay off the debt to the Witches, a task that Do'azda must do in the Reach. Second that there are Witches camping nearby, who may be able to speed the process. (Can only be taken with 'Yes, Fast Travel')
[X] [Fast Travel] Yes, fast travel. It will involve walking through a swamp, but it could save hours, days, or even a full week depending.

Let's skive off the plot for a while longer. As excited as I am to see what the authors will make of the main plot.
 
[X] [Destination] Ultimately, what people expect of the Dragonborn is that they will journey to the tallest mountain and learn the art of the Voice, of Shouting, from the Greybeards. There might be value in fitting these expectations and making your way to a location of such destiny.

[X] [Fast Travel] No, fast travel. Whether the destination is close enough that walking is no problem, or whether one doesn't wish to disturb or annoy the witches, Do'azda can make it on foot

DOVACAT
DOVACAT
BOTHERS OLD MEN AT LAST

SHE WILL SHOW
ALL THE NORDS
THAT THEY TALK OUT THEIR ASS
 
[X] [Destination] Ultimately, what people expect of the Dragonborn is that they will journey to the tallest mountain and learn the art of the Voice, of Shouting, from the Greybeards. There might be value in fitting these expectations and making your way to a location of such destiny.
[X] [Fast Travel] No, fast travel. Whether the destination is close enough that walking is no problem, or whether one doesn't wish to disturb or annoy the witches, Do'azda can make it on foot
 
[X] [Destination] Riften is where a powerful spirit, and a sneaky one, wants her to go. Moreover, it is somewhere that Azurah at least has encouraged Do'azda to seek out, or at least consider, in her own time. Riften is not too far from here, perhaps something can be managed.
[X] [Fast Travel] No, fast travel. Whether the destination is close enough that walking is no problem, or whether one doesn't wish to disturb or annoy the witches, Do'azda can make it on foot.
 
[X] [Destination] While Ulfric Stormcloak is many things, he is a Nord, and one who believes in the Dragonborn myth. If one was seeking unexpected aid, material or otherwise, it would not be foolish to journey to Windhelm in order to check in on the leader of the Stormcloaks and a former trainee of the Greybeards.
[X] [Fast Travel] No, fast travel. Whether the destination is close enough that walking is no problem, or whether one doesn't wish to disturb or annoy the witches, Do'azda can make it on foot
 
Adhoc vote count started by The Laurent on Apr 17, 2023 at 8:18 AM, finished with 24 posts and 17 votes.

  • [X] [Fast Travel] No, fast travel. Whether the destination is close enough that walking is no problem, or whether one doesn't wish to disturb or annoy the witches, Do'azda can make it on foot
    [X] [Destination] Ultimately, what people expect of the Dragonborn is that they will journey to the tallest mountain and learn the art of the Voice, of Shouting, from the Greybeards. There might be value in fitting these expectations and making your way to a location of such destiny.
    [X] [Fast Travel] Yes, fast travel. It will involve walking through a swamp, but it could save hours, days, or even a full week depending.
    [X] [Destination] The Reach is far away, and normally much too far away to consider going just this moment. But two things tempt one in this direction. First is that there is some task needed to pay off the debt to the Witches, a task that Do'azda must do in the Reach. Second that there are Witches camping nearby, who may be able to speed the process. (Can only be taken with 'Yes, Fast Travel')
    [X] [Destination] Riften is where a powerful spirit, and a sneaky one, wants her to go. Moreover, it is somewhere that Azurah at least has encouraged Do'azda to seek out, or at least consider, in her own time. Riften is not too far from here, perhaps something can be managed.
    [X] [Destination] While Ulfric Stormcloak is many things, he is a Nord, and one who believes in the Dragonborn myth. If one was seeking unexpected aid, material or otherwise, it would not be foolish to journey to Windhelm in order to check in on the leader of the Stormcloaks and a former trainee of the Greybeards.
 
Ivarstead
Ivarstead

"I think," Do'azda says the next morning, "That we'll need to go to the Greybeards."

"Up the… seven-thousand steps, I believe," Bathes-In-Steel says, with a firm nod.

"Seven-Thousand Steps?"

"I like their accuracy. They must have counted," Bathes-In-Steel says, with a pleased grin as she lies in her bedroll and looks over at Do'azda. "So when are we going?"

If Bathes-In-Steel resented the fact that they are still going on foot, she does not say it. Do'azda is glad for this, as she does not know what she would say. She does not fear the swamp, though a part of her is nervous of it. But she does not want to presume too much of bonds that have only been half-made. She needs to give them time, and for that matter build upon them, in order to have a lasting relationship with them.

She is also hungover and so her thoughts are sluggish, threatening to stumble to a halt at every moment.

She still needs to talk to the witches, even though she's not going to use their services just yet.

Aodhsil is up and waiting for her when she makes her way over, ignoring the whispering that is coming from others. The way is clear, the path has been opened, and she is a hero or perhaps a villain. And whatever she is, she is now a mystery, because she left and then returned. There's no telling where she's been, at least if she won't say anything about it, and she will not say anything about it.

"Morning, Do'azda," Aodhsil says with an easy wave. "So, you did it?"

"She did," Do'azda says. "It was an experience. My head hurts, must Do'azda blame you?"

"I did literally force the drink down your throat as you struggled and begged me not to," Aodhsil says with a quirk of her lips.

"Do'azda understands. She has made a choice, and that choice is to suffer," Do'azda says.

"You have a deep understanding of life," Aodhsil says. "It must be the Shamanic training."

Do'azda laughs at the irony thick as jam on bread, and just as tasty to her as she leans in. "Unfortunately, we'll not be using your method of transportation. We do not want to trouble you, though we… will want to pay back what we've done."

"Come to the Rock when you're ready to go to the Reach," she says, with a nod. "The Throat of the World is not so far from an orphan. Some would say that to reach the very top one must be an orphan, or a Shalvae, one who has lost a sibling."

Do'azda considers this. "Do'azda does not have siblings to lose."

"I am not too surprised, but just… consider what you'll find, as you go up and up and up. It is necessary, a Dragon cannot be untrained, and the Greybeards are the closest to dragons of any group in this land."

Do'azda nods, "She will see you again before too long."

"I suspect you will," Aodhsil says, with a nod. "Now get."

***​

There is a degree of routine to the travel that is just a little bit tiring and frustrating. She's not truly traveling that far, and she's mostly using roads she's already used before. This means that she walks the path without even entirely paying attention to it, and trusts that it will go in the direction she wants to go.

She looks up at the mountains as they draw closer and closer. There is nothing nearly so high in Elsweyr, though the Elves apparently dispute the claim that the Empire has the tallest place in the world, offering various other peaks as supposed competition.

She knows that one of these peaks is the tallest in Skyrim, but from a distance it is actually hard to tell which peak it is. The clouds make it hard to say that one is the tallest in Skyrim and another is merely 'one of the tallest in Skyrim.'

Cats are not entirely opposed to high places, but the journey still left her a little baffled. She has been imagining a tiny little village at the base of the mountain, but as the day wears onward, she finds that it is not the case at all. In fact, she begins to become more and more aware that she is gaining height at a truly unnerving rate, the paths all subtly leading her not just up to the base of a mountain, but part of the way to its summit.

All the pleasant weather in the world, all the "last good days" feeling that so many poets no doubt sing about here as they do in Elsweyr, none of that can hide the fact that she is traveling towards one of the most Nord places in the world. Tall, cold, bald of life and filled with greybeards.

A Nord mountain.

When she shares this with Bathes-In-Steel, she gets a solemn nod. "Everything in Skyrim is a Nord something," Bathes-In-Steel says in an agreement that feels almost like a disagreement.

She has no idea how the Greybeards will react to her. They cannot deny that she is the Dragonborn. Or at least, she doesn't know why they would be more stubborn than even Whiterun. Whiterun, which says she is the Dragonborn and hates her still--at least the parts of Whiterun that the Nords thought of as 'Whiterun.'

She is stalling in her head, because the village is growing closer and closer by the minute. There is still nature all around, but none of it has chosen to try to take a bite out of her. It'd be pretty foolish to even make the attempt, but she knows that there are animals in Skyrim that are oddly, even startlingly, hostile. Despite all the criss-crossing settlements, parts of Skyrim, even parts of Skyrim close to a village, seem dreadfully wild.

A little of it is the war, but perhaps some of it is also just how Skyrim is. She cannot be sure. She knows that it is too easy to judge, to give mystical character to simple accidents.

Instead her eyes look at the surroundings with the eye--and perhaps later the pen--of an observer of nature. She has been made to stand in nature and describe everything she has seen, she has been made to stand on a city street and do the same. But there are so many details that will pass away, like the way the wind begins to pick up, and carry with it the scent of Ivarstead far too early.

She is passing through trees that will never lose their greenery, who stand at all sides of the path like sentinels as it winds as if the ones who made the path were drunk. But she knows instead that it follows the rhythm and pattern of the land. Her headache has passed, time and clean, cold air both doing their part, and Do'azda feels she ought to be appreciative of her surroundings, but mostly what she feels is a sort of alarming insignificance. This is unrestrained land, untamed and scarcely touched.

It reminds her, more than anything else, of the deepest of the Anequina desert badland, opposed though the two places are in all matters of climate. People live here by changing for the land, where in other, softer places, they might change the world itself.

***​

She sees a cabin, off to one side, that has a Shrine of S'rendarr, though that is not what it no doubt calls itself. But there is a grail and a small area to leave offerings, and she thinks of the great shrine at Jodestone, restored early in the 4th Era and then destroyed by the Aldmeri, rebuilt in the deep Jodewood.

She thinks of the way things come around and around again, and that nothing lasts but that mercy however fleeting has value. She also thinks that she is a little cold, and the air feels strange, and this rough building seems to be empty.

She prays to S'rendarr, asking for his mercy to all who pass this way, and not daring to ask for more.

***​

The landscape continues to change. The forest grows a little more sparse, and it is by this point late. The sun has long ago disappeared behind the mountain, but night has not truly fallen; the sun was becoming obscured at barely an hour past noon, such is the nature of the mountain.

She is tired and footsore, but she knows that they need to at least push on to Ivarstead. She regrets her hesitation to take the aid, because saving even a day could matter. But she knows she's making good time, and though the air feels strange, it is also crisp and bracing. The wind is less bracing, and though she has fur she is reminded again and again as they walk in the dying gloom that is the last hour or two of light as they try to make their way to the town of Iverstead.

The trees are just beginning to thin out, and so she sees the town earlier than she expects. The houses have steep roofs of slate, none of the previously ubiquitous thatch, and they cluster all about a larger building, which Do'azda assumes - guesses, perhaps - to be a tavern.

As she gets closer, Do'azda sees a ruin on the outskirts, a crumbling nord barrow, half covered in earth, carved into the mountainside. Through the buildings she can make out a long and tall watermill built of stone and earth along the fast flowing river coming down off the Throat of the World, and a substantial farmstead, several stories of hand-quarried stone and rough sawn tree trunks.

Passing by the ruin and into the village, Do'azda finds herself a little taken off guard as she takes in the people of Ivarstead. Every one of them is dressed in bizarrely fine clothes; thick, tightly woven woolen garments, looking soft and sturdy, finer than what was worn by many in Whiterun, even merchants and thanes, but all only in various intensities and shades of blue, and the occasional soft undyed brown.

"We should head to the inn," Do'azda says, "To find out how to get up towards High Hrothgar. Someone must know, surely?"

Bathes-In-Steel nods, "I think it is probably to keep going up the mountain, but sure."

Do'azda sometimes cannot tell when Bathes-In-Steel is joking, but she's distracted before she can decide how to reply.

"You're heading up to High Hrothgar?" A man interrupts. He's got long, slightly greasy red hair, and a slicked black goatee. He's got an oilskin sack over one shoulder, which he sets down on the ground as he stops to talk to them. By the looks of it, the bag is almost completely empty, for all that he is making a production out of carrying it. "Bassianius Axius, at your service. I happen to work with the man headed up with supplies to the herdsmen up in the summer pastures - I have no doubt Klimmek would take you that far, at least."

Do'azda frowns. "The summer pastures? What?"

Bassianius laughs, an edge to it which puts her hackles up automatically. "The summer pastures - further up in the mountains there are meadows where we drive the herds for the summer? The 7000 Steps start at the far end of the main meadow up there, and Klimmek has to go up there soon enough to give the herdsmen the next week's supplies, and if you're going up there too, maybe you'll chivvy him along?"

"Is the path safe this late?" Do'azda asks, "It's getting dark, and we're already quite high in the mountains?"

"Ah, it's an easy path up to the pastures. I wouldn't start up the steps themselves, mind, but just up to the meadows, with a local guide? Should be fine if you set off now - Klimmek ought to be up by the bridge. He'll be talking to Fastred, no doubt, but I'm sure he'll go with you when you arrive; he should've gone up there yesterday and he knows it."

"Where is this bridge?" Do'azda says, "This one has not seen a bridge?"

"Follow the mill along, it's just downstream of it, opposite Fellstar Farm." Bassianius says, pointing. "I'd best be getting on - fish aren't gonna hang themselves up to cure."

He hefts his piteous sack of fish with a grunt of effort and heads on his way, towards the tavern.

"I don't think that man is going to cure any fish," Bathes-In-Steel says, "I'm not certain he had caught any. Look, he's going into the tavern!"

Do'azda nods absently. "We should go find this Klimmek, to see if he'll take us up the mountain."

The bridge is fairly impressive, and Do'azda takes a moment to take it in. The river has dropped away down a waterfall upstream of it, and so the bridge is a single span across a ravine, supported by long sturdy columns reaching down and across to the walls of the chasm, shallow and broad, with beaten-flat dirt and little tufts of grass atop a traditional imperial-style stone bridge. Beyond the bridge, a valley mouth leads up the mountain, wide and grassy, with steep stone cliffs on both sides of the valley. There's a house at the valley mouth, on the riverfront but across the river from the rest of Ivarstead.

A brunette girl is leaning against the stone wall of the farmstead across the road from the bridge, deep in conversation with a nord man approaching his middle years, his face craggy with age, his head shaved and his beard plaited.

Do'azda clears her throat quietly, as she approaches the pair. "Excuse me? Are you Klimmek?"

"Aye," The man says, his voice gruff but not unkind. "Who's asking?"

"This one is Do'azda Khrimnin, she plans to travel to High Hrothgar, and was told you could guide her some ways up the mountain?" Do'azda says, "Her friend is Bathes-In-Steel."

Bathes-In-Steel waves with an almost threateningly benign look on her face. The kind of innocent that makes people think 'nobody is that innocent.'

"Oh," Klimmek blinks, looking away from Bathes-In-Steel after a moment. "Suppose I had ought to make my way up thattaway, aye. You don't mind, Fastred?"

The girl shrugs. "Food's gotta get up there somehow. We can talk more tomorrow. Da will be wanting me back anyways. S'pose I'll seeya?"

Klimmek deflates a little, but soon rallies.

"Its not getting any lighter, so we'd best be setting off, then. Sooner gone is sooner returned," He says, "I'll need to pick up a knapsack of supplies from Narfi's place over the river."

A bosmer man is perched on the bridge, facing away from Ivarstead and out at the view to the north, over the wilds of Eastmarch, the fir forest dotted with rocky outcroppings giving way to sulphurous hot springs further east and then the snowy wasteland of northern Skyrim. He's got a piece of charcoal in his right hand and peeled bark in his left, darting glances up at the landscape, then down at the bark, where he's working at a sketch, squinting out into the fading light. He sets the bark down as Klimmek approaches. Clever eyes take in Klimmek, flick over Do'azda and Bathes-In-Steel.

"Headed up the mountain again?" The bosmer says, "Bassianius has been nagging you to make the trip for days."

"Aye, well, these two wanted a guide, seems only neighbourly." Klimmek says, "You sketching again, Gwilin? Make sure you save it, I'll be wanting to look at it when I get back."

Gwilin goes a little pink. "I'll do that. You can have it when it's done, if you'd like. I'm getting pretty good at landscapes, I reckon. You must sit for a portrait sometime, Klimmek."

Klimmek waves a dismissive hand. "Ah, you don't want a portrait of my ugly mug. Keep at your landscapes, Gwilin, they're mighty fine."

Gwilin shrugs, looking out over the vista again. "I'll see you around, Klimmek."

Do'azda is tired already, but a part of her almost wants to stop to see the art. But she has places to be, and though her legs are weary, something of her heart sings at the thought of being able to Shout again, to learn and grow in power.

Klimmek walks with a confidence to his stride that takes Do'azda a little by surprise - though perhaps it oughtn't, for he hasn't spend all day climbing as she and Bathes-In-Steel have.

The house across the bridge looks worse as they get closer - the walls are wreathed in creeping vines, the door hangs slightly from its hinges and there are visible gaps in the slate of the roof. Klimmek approaches without hesitation though, and raises his voice to call through the door.

"Narfi? I've come for some supplies for the high meadow, Narfi!"

"Reyda? Narfi misses Reyda. When can Narfi be with Reyda?" A man appears in the doorway, in rags which Do'azda can tell reek of sweat and dirt even from several yards away.

"It's Klimmek, Narfi." Klimmek's voice is soft, placating. "I need some of the supplies we keep here, is that alright?"

Narfi blinks, his eyes unfocused. "Yes. They're in Reyda's rooms. You can't keep them there forever… she'll want her room clean when she comes back. Do you know when she's coming back?"

"I'm sorry, Narfi, I don't know." Klimmek says, slipping past the man with a comforting pat on the shoulder.

Narfi frowns slightly, then sees Do'azda and Bathes-In-Steel. His eyes light up.

"Hello! Narfi doesn't know you. Do you know Reyda?" He asks, approaching them.

"Who's Reyda?" Do'azda asks, "This one may be able to look for her?"

"Reyda was here, then gone. Went to gather plants and never came home... nope, nope. Everyone looked and no one could find her. Wilhelm said she'll be back... told Narfi not to worry... Reyda will come back." Narfi looks at her with a childish hope. "Reyda wouldn't go without saying goodbye. She wouldn't."

Do'azda looks past him, but Klimmek is still busy in the house. "This one is sure Reyda will come back. Are you safe here without her, Narfi?"

"Klimmek comes to see Narfi every few days," Narfi says, "Always bothering Narfi about supplies, making sure Narfi eats, drinks… Klimmek is not so kind as Reyda is. When will Reyda be home?"

"Do'azda is a visitor, but she is sure it… will not be that long." She feels a heaviness in her, and she hopes that it does not show in her voice. She does not know this is a lie, but in her heart it feels like one.

Narfi seems unfazed, and Do'azda wonders how many people have told him this, how often.

Klimmek takes some minutes to leave Narfi's house, laden down with a sizeable leather pack. "Narfi, do you want to go back inside? I've stoked up your fireplace a little, so be careful with it. You've not been bothering the nice ladies, have you?"

"Narfi was not bothering! Narfi was only asking…" Narfi trails off, making his way back towards the house, cringing a little and raising his hands apologetically, and Klimmek looks suddenly as though he regrets questioning the poor man.

"Let's go," Klimmek says at last. "He'll just get upset if we stay here much longer."

Klimmek waits until they're a hundred paces or so from Narfi's house before talking. "He was always fragile, even as a boy, I remember. He would get so lost in his own head, so caught up in the mundane horrors of his life. He'd sit on that bridge for hours, crying over nothing anyone but him could understand. Only his sister could ever drag him out of it, get him smiling again. He might've been alright, until the war."

He pauses for a moment, and Do'azda can see his eyes going distant.

"Every stupid boy in Skyrim marched off to fight in Titus Mede's war, and only some of us marched back. Reyda asked every one of us from Ivarstead to watch out for Narfi, but we weren't in the same legion - I served in Hammerfell, marching back and forth until the Emperor finally admitted the province was gone. Narfi fought in Valenwood, slogging through the mud whilst arrows ripped apart his friends. He left part of himself in that muck, and when he came home, his parents had died, and all he had left was his sister Reyda." Klimmek's eyes don't move from the horizon, and Do'azda doesn't want to interrupt.

"Last year Reyda went missing," Klimmek says, "No one knows where. Wilhelm - he owns the Vilemyr Inn - he thinks Reyda died out on the lake, but Bassianius thinks she just finally got sick of looking after Narfi."

"What do you think?" Do'azda asks, because it feels like he expects to be asked.

"I don't think Reyda would have left him alone by choice, but if she's dead it'll break him, so I don't think I want to know what happened to her. I don't want to have to decide whether to lie to him."

They don't talk any further.

***​

The air grows thinner still, and the trees begin to thin out a little too, heading up and up towards the summer pasture. She knows pastures well enough, there is quite a lot of plains in Elsweyr, and thus plenty to herd. The smells are not unfamiliar, for animals left to their own devices do not tend to smell pleasant. Cows, sheep and goats wander about the high meadows, and Klimmek leaves Do'azda and Bathes-In-Steel with a mumbled "Goodbye" to find the herdsmen dotted about the pastures.

Now the darkness really is creeping in as she looks up and finally in the distance sees it.

The Seven-Thousand Steps, marching upwards towards the actual clouds, obscured by mist even now. She is a Khajiit, the dark holds few enough secrets for her, but there is a heavy fog further up. Each of the steps is large, a broad, tall, rather sharp step that leads to another such step. Along the side there are still a few scattered trees and some grasslands and desperate scrub, but along with it there is more and more snow.

Do'azda cannot help but be sure that soon enough there will be nothing but snow. It is colder, too, but not so cold that she thinks that there will be any problems setting up camp, fire included. There's plenty to burn up here, and so she gets to work setting up.

When she falls asleep, reading, she is dreaming of--what else?--the mountain.

With the night falling, Do'azda has time to read a bit, and then sleep… but which to read?

Different spells take different amounts of time to learn. Do'azda can read 2 actions worth of book, tonight. She can partially read a book, though at the moment this makes little enough sense.

[] Spell Tome: Illumination (1 action)
[] Spell Tome: Thieves Vision (1 action)
[] Spell Tome: Lesser Wards (2 actions)
[] A Handy Guide to Lockpicks (1 action)


XP!

Defeating the Spriggan Mother: +10 XP

XP: 85/90->5/105, Level 6 Reached!


Skills (Choose 3 to increase by +5 for each, cannot increase anything more than five points at a time this level, cannot raise anything higher than 50 (not that this is relevant now, but one of the key means of advancing skills isn't just leveling up, but learning… such as what might be done in a Thieves Guild or Wizard's College for relevant skills, among other things.)

Alchemy: 25
Alteration: 5
Archery: 5
Block: 5
Conjuration: 39
Destruction: 5
Enchanting: 5
Heavy Armor: 5
Illusion: 35
Light Armor: 10
Lock Picking: 1
One-Handed: 21
Pickpocket: 5
Restoration: 15
Smithing: 1
Sneak: 20
Speech: 22
Survival: 5
Two-Handed: 5


Perks (Choose 1)

The number in brackets is the requisite skill level to take the skill.

Soul Bind (30): Do'azda has mastered the skills needed to successfully and consistently bind a soul into a gem, a difficult and some would say questionable skill, but one in high demand to say the least. (Conjuration)

Powerful Conjuration (25): Do'azda knows how to summon creatures from further away from her, and how to better control their location and order them around. She is a Conjurer, and this is her art. (Conjuration)

Eye for Details (10): Illusions require a sharp eye that can take in the little details, and Do'azda has experience to help improve her ability to do just that, increasing the 'power' of her Illusion magic. (Illusion)

Mind-Teller (30): Do'azda is surprisingly good, or at least finds she has an aptitude for, spells involving affecting or influencing the minds of others. At this stage the greater potency is still relatively mild… but it presages greater power in the future. (Illusion)

Efficient Illusionst (20): She has grown and learned how to be more sparing with her magic, in order to allow her illusions to last longer and be less of a drain on her in the future. (Illusion)

Healer's Heart (10): Restoration is a sort of magic that takes real focus and the right mindset for the spells to work well: while Do'azda only knows how to make a healing potion, perhaps she can work into that mindset a little bit. (Restoration)

Armstrong (10): Do'azda's experiences with one-handed weapons have helped her to gain just a little bit of stamina, enough to be able to swing a sword, or axe, or indeed a shovel more regularly without exhausting herself… which means fighting better in general. (One Handed)

Hack And Slash (20): Do'azda's increasing reliable on axes has given her a greater understanding of some of the basic moves of axe-work and how to truly get in close to her enemies and use the axe to good effect. She's begun to work out how to deal with armor and shields in fighting. (One Handed)

Agile Defender (10): Armor is often hard to get used to, so figuring out how to move with light armor so as to reduce how bad a hit is is something you can only learn by doing… and Do'azda has begun to 'do.' (Light Armour)

Quiet Does It (10): With Catlike Tread, Do'azda is a little subtler and a little better at not being noticed. (Stealth)

Colored Market Gambit (20): Do'azda knows a little about the differences between black, grey, and up-front markets and knows how to pitch her sales and buying pitches for very different audiences. This can also be used to 'code switch' if need be. (Speech)

In a Pinch 1 (10): One of the key facts of Alchemy was that you had to have the right ingredients to do anything. Well, there were many formulas and the more skilled an Alchemist was, the more that they could make with a box of herbs in a cave. This is the first improvement to that capacity. (Alchemy)

Concentrate (10): There are all sorts of tricks to Alchemy, but one way to stretch things further and either make more or begin work towards making stronger potions is how to concentrate down potion ingredients down into something more potent. (Alchemy)


TL AN: We did a surprising amount of looking into altitudes and mountains, and I drew at least a little bit from all I'd read about mountain-climbing. Vet rendered the relationships in the second part very well, so I think this is a pretty successful update. Hope y'all enjoyed it!

VM AN: We made the Throat of the World tall by the by. Like, there's a lot further to go before you reach the top. I scribbled all over a diagram of different mountain climate zones, for science. And it was fun to play with some canon characters again! Ivarstead lowkey has some sad ppl in it, huh?
 
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[X] Plan: Living Up To Expectations Requires Staying Alive
-[X] Spell Tome: Lesser Wards (2 actions)
-[X] Speech
-[X] Restoration
-[X] Light Armor
-[X] Agile Defender (10): Armor is often hard to get used to, so figuring out how to move with light armor so as to reduce how bad a hit is is something you can only learn by doing… and Do'azda has begun to 'do.' (Light Armour)

We've been getting into a lot of fights lately, I think it'd be prudent to brush up on the skills that help us survive through more regular sets of combat. (Frost Troll what Frost Troll? :V)
 
While i'd prefer more summoning stuff, [X] Plan: Living Up To Expectations Requires Staying Alive seems safer
 
[X] Plan: Living Up To Expectations Requires Staying Alive
-[X] Spell Tome: Lesser Wards (2 actions)
-[X] Speech
-[X] Restoration
-[X] Light Armor
-[X] Agile Defender (10): Armor is often hard to get used to, so figuring out how to move with light armor so as to reduce how bad a hit is is something you can only learn by doing… and Do'azda has begun to 'do.' (Light Armour)
 
Not a big fan of armor, honestly. Our best defensive asset is Bathes in Steel, our next best is summoning, armor is a distant third.

[X] Plan: Staying Alive, Magically
-[X] Spell Tome: Lesser Wards (2 actions)
-[X] Conjuration
-[X] Speech
-[X] Restoration
-[X] Healer's Heart (10): Restoration is a sort of magic that takes real focus and the right mindset for the spells to work well: while Do'azda only knows how to make a healing potion, perhaps she can work into that mindset a little bit. (Restoration)
 
[X] Plan: Swole Cate
-[X] Spell Tome: Lesser Wards (2 actions)
-[X] Light Armor
-[X] One Handed
-[X] Speech
-[X] Agile Defender (10): Armor is often hard to get used to, so figuring out how to move with light armor so as to reduce how bad a hit is is something you can only learn by doing… and Do'azda has begun to 'do.' (Light Armour)

It was a tough choice between Speech and Restoration and ideally I'd like to alternate between a magic turn with restoration and a swole turn with Speech each level up, but level ups are precious things when they aren't being handed out like candy in the game so I don't actually know how viable that is.

I think our magic is at a relatively decent-ish level now, at least enough that it won't miss one turn of investment, so I think we should buff up light armor and one hand. Do'azda is only going to be engaging in more melee from here on out and a mix of barest proficiency and able magic isn't going to last. We need to be more skilled at wearing light armor and how to chop, but also I'm hoping that by taking these two skills it also translates to Do'azda being more fit in general.
 
[X] Plan: Living Up To Expectations Requires Staying Alive

[X] Plan: It's cold on the mountain, let's burn through some books!
 
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[X] Plan: It's cold on the mountain, let's burn through some books!
-[X] Spell Tome: Thieves Vision (1 action)
-[X] A Handy Guide to Lockpicks (1 action)
-[X] Alchemy: 25
-[X] Restoration: 15
-[X] Survival: 5
-[X] Agile Defender (10): Armor is often hard to get used to, so figuring out how to move with light armor so as to reduce how bad a hit is is something you can only learn by doing… and Do'azda has begun to 'do.' (Light Armour)


I was really tempted to go with Powerful Conjurations or Healing Heart, but I think the best way to deal with damage is to avoid taking it. Same with the skills, I really, REALLY, want to up destruction or one-handed, but we only get three skills, and maybe survival says, 'hey, the bear's home, let's wait for it to leave before going in the cave,' that sort of thing. Making better potions for fun and profit, as well as improving our healing magic is good for the long haul. It's maybe a slower path, but the rewards will be worth it. Being able to see traps and slightly better could mean the difference between alerting enemies and getting injuried, or getting the drop on them, also treasure.

Hack And Slash (20): Do'azda's increasing reliable on axes has given her a greater understanding
Should this be 'increasing reliance' or 'increasingly reliable?'

"Seven-Thousand Steps?"
Couldn't we just join a twelve step program? It'd prevent these hangovers, at least?

"Do'azda understands. She has made a choice, and that choice is to suffer," Do'azda says.
Life, a challenge by choice sport. Sometimes it's other people making those choices, but a fair bit of it is a choose your own adventure!

It is necessary, a Dragon cannot be untrained, and the Greybeards are the closest to dragons of any group in this land.
Besides, you know, the Dragons. By they're not so friendly.

This means that she walks the path without even entirely paying attention to it, and trusts that it will go in the direction she wants to go.
"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?"

Cats are not entirely opposed to high places,
Now see Exhibit T, for trees.

none of that can hide the fact that she is traveling towards one of the most Nord places in the world. Tall, cold, bald of life and filled with greybeards.

A Nord mountain.
A-ha, I knew it! This quest has rails, it was inevitable, they've put us on... A NordicTrack! (But seriously, it's a good quest, and this a joke)

she knows that there are animals in Skyrim that are oddly, even startlingly, hostile.
Instead her eyes look at the surroundings with the eye--and perhaps later the pen--of an observer of nature.
Skeevers, Spriggans, and Snow Trolls, Oh My! This and other Cat-tastrophes: The Dragonborn's Diaries, now available wherever tomes are sold, but most copies are in Annabeth's shop. Foreward by Bathes-in-Steel.

The wind is less bracing, and though she has fur she is reminded again and again as they walk in the dying gloom that is the last hour or two of light as they try to make their way to the town of Iverstead.
I feel like you might be missing a word or something in here, maybe 'as they walk in the dying gloom that it is the last hour or two of light..?' It's a long sentence, is all, feels a smidge off, maybe.

Every one of them is dressed in bizarrely fine clothes; thick, tightly woven woolen garments, looking soft and sturdy, finer than what was worn by many in Whiterun, even merchants and thanes, but all only in various intensities and shades of blue, and the occasional soft undyed brown.
They just get tributes from people on their way up the mountain, right? That or the Nords at large? You don't want to piss off the people that are responsible for keeping your magic people fed, after all.

Bathes-In-Steel nods, "I think it is probably to keep going up the mountain, but sure.
Just, without fail, the best character ever.

"I don't think that man is going to cure any fish," Bathes-In-Steel says, "I'm not certain he had caught any. Look, he's going into the tavern!"
Of course he's going to the tavern. You can"t fish if you run out of beer!

Bathes-In-Steel waves with an almost threateningly benign look on her face. The kind of innocent that makes people think 'nobody is that innocent.'
The invite said business casual not aggressively casual!

told Narfi not to worry... Reyda will come back." Narfi looks at her with a childish hope. "Reyda wouldn't go without saying goodbye. She wouldn't."
Oh dear.:cry:
 
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[X] Plan: Swole Cate

Yeah, when I look back at all of our major fights we've always seemed to wind up getting up close at some point. Having a basic level of competence with armor and chopping seems pretty necessary unless we're planning to go full mage.
 
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Scheduled vote count started by veteranMortal on Apr 24, 2023 at 7:42 PM, finished with 13 posts and 12 votes.
 
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