10 Chapter X: Slaughter at The Docks and Winterhold hold *Edited*
We reach the docks relatively unnoticed, the Argonian workers seem to have all thankfully gone back to their sleeping quarters. The docks are far larger than I guessed and covered in warehouses, so the two or three guards on duty tonight do not notice us.
We find our partners in crime for the night, there are six more of them than before, all equipped with the same gear I saw them carry when we first met. Davos notices us and approaches while handing us all black cloaks. "Good you came, the gangs will be meeting in about ten minutes, from what we gathered there will be about a dozen each, so we must hit them with all we have if we are to have a chance"
I ponder this for a moment and ask "Should I use magic attacks? I don't think that any of the Nords use pyromancy so it would be harder to hide our involvement"
He thinks for a second and shakes his head "We can always just dress one of the dead ones in some cheap robes, we've also prepared some witnesses among the dockworkers, and besides if I didn't guess you were a mage I'd have no reason to even invite you here in the first place"
Understandable, I nod "That's fair enough, what can we expect from the guards, how quickly do they respond?"
"Usually they don't give a shit about what is happening, but now we are going to be making a ruckus in one of the warehouses, so we can expect them to get here in minutes at worst" He explains quickly.
"What do we do after we have dealt with them? I hope you have some plans for a getaway" I question, my voice cautious.
He snorts "Don't worry, me and my group have a bunch of safehouses, but for you, we have prepared a boat at the edge of the docks. While I won't stop you from staying in Windhelm, Azura knows we could use the help, I know that you are just passing by and will be under a lot of suspicion considering you already have some reputation in the city."
Will he try to fuck me over? Is there really a boat? We can always just swim away but that will be very uncomfortable, hmm I have an idea "Can you show me to the boat, it would be better if we stocked it up in advance so we don't have to lug our things while we run?"
He looks at me for a bit, not showing any offense at my distrust, and nods "Sure it's nearby, follow me"
We are quickly shown to the boat and unload anything we won't need in the fight, Morrigan comments how I am finally using my head instead of just rushing forward but I merely shrug at her in response.
I do not regret my recent galivanting one bit, I came here to adventure and adventure I will!
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With me still deep in my thoughts I don't notice when everyone tenses up, Durrak shakes me awake and we get ready, the warehouse across from our own is dimly lit, but I can see the insides with relative clarity, only about four of them have any kind of armor, most of them are carrying knives and some axes, it really is just a bunch of city gangers huh, a part of me is disappointed but I won't complain, their numbers are still going to be an issue.
In the corner I see cages filled with grey skinned children witch makes my blood boil, my orc friend almost rushes in but holds himself back, apparently all our nagging about tactics is finally getting into his head, or maybe he just didn't give a shit before and now that there are stakes beyond his own life he holds himself back?
The gangers seem to be talking about distributing the profits, I wouldn't be surprised if they really did kill each other, but that would happen only after already selling the kids off which would be pointless for us.
Four of the elven vigilantes sneak up the sides of the warehouse and set up at the windows while the remaining five including Davos, I suddenly notice a familiar face among them and whisper "Jenassa what are you doing here?"
She turns to me and amusedly says "Well I did say I was visiting family, just not what kind of family" she smiles as she readies her weapons.
I shake my head as we continue our approach, we all set up and get ready, I start casting a spinning firebolt, Morrigan prepares her root traps and Durrak positions himself for a charge, while our companions all aim their crossbows.
At Davos' signal all hell breaks loose, I immediately aim for one of the best equipped gangers who seems to be the leader of one of them, his instincts seem to be pretty damn good because he simply tilts his head to the side on reflex. His counterpart however is not so lucky because he gets deeply acquainted with a bolt to the face, at the same time six more get killed by crossbows, the remaining ones are stunned for a couple of seconds which is enough for our ground group to charge in and take down some more of them.
I charge the one that dodged my attack, casting oakflesh on myself and conjuring my saber, he notices me quickly and attacks with an axe and dagger combo, he seems trained but not too skilled, we exchange blows for some seconds when he manages to stab me in the chest with his knife, thankfully he didn't expect my skin to be too thick for iron weapons when combined with my padded shirt, so while he is distracted by my lack of reaction I slash his neck and kill him almost instantly. Another one rushes me from the side, but I quickly turn him to ash with a wave of searing flames.
I turn around and see that most of the gangers are already dead, or dying with only one of us having taken heavier injuries, the fighting continues around me as I go to heal him to at least give him enough time not to bleed out. He nods a thank you and when I turn around to rejoin the fight It already seems to be over with Davos finishing the last one by decapitating him.
We are rejoined by the ones on the roof with one remaining on lookout duty, the elves quickly free the children, some of whom are too tired to even walk, we quickly grab whatever of value that the gangs brought here and are warned by the lookout about the approaching guards.
Davos who is now carrying a child tosses me a ruby which I clumsily catch and says "I know we merely offered a share of the loot but It was more a formality, thank you for your help and may Azura give you luck" Before rushing of to the winding passages of the docks, quickly joined by the rest of his people.
The three of us do not tarry, even if we could still grab the weapons to sell it won't matter if we are caught, we run towards the boat and aren't noticed by the approaching guards, there is a lot of noise coming from the warehouse but thankfully we manage to row away before anyone decides to look around.
With the heavy atmosphere slowly leaving us Morrigan slumps down, I simply relax onto my seat and Durrak starts rowing with his usual gusto.
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We reach the coast before the sun rises and sit down to rest a bit.
"Well that was an experience, I hope we won't be declared as outlaws in Windhelm tomorrow" I say to my companions, but I know deep down that realistically none of us were even noticed, so the only way we could get in trouble is if someone snitches on us.
Durrak merely shrugs "Well no one saw us so I don't think there will be problems"
Morrigan adds "I am just glad that this is all over and done with, now we can finally get on with our business without you courageously jumping into the fray to save the poor children"
"While I understand that your people don't put value on their own there is no need to project that onto those who never did you wrong Morrigan" I say slightly annoyed at her.
She pretends to ignore me but the slight flinch I saw tells another story.
"Anyways, our next stop will be the village of Bjarnstead, the southernmost settlement in the Winterhold hold, there we should get something to wear in the cold and maybe a guide"
"And rest, I really want to just sit down for a bit" adds the witch
"Fine we will get some rest as well, anything you want Durrak?" I ask the energetic Orc.
"Maybe ill grab a bow or something, those elves seemed to know what they were doing, might as well give it a shot" he finishes with a smile as we both groan at the pun.
After resting for a bit we start walking Bjarnestead which is about a third of the way to Winterhold, I really don't want to camp in the snow.
Our trip is thankfully boring and we do reach the village, It looks almost exactly like the ingame Winterhold, although still having more houses, the locals seem distrustful of us but not nearly to the level of Windhelm.
We choose take our time and rest from all the excitement as agreed, me and my witch friend start mixing all manner of ingredients and she starts teaching me a bit of the basics she knows.
Durrak visits the local shop and gets us some thick cloaks with a good quality longbow and some arrows for himself, and goes to practice with it, at least he won't have to throw his only weapon anymore, speaking of his weapon I didn't really pay attention to it but now that I take a closer look it's a gods damn orcish longspear, which yes does make sense, the dude is an orc but those damn things are expensive, I guess its his father's or something.
I manage to get some healing done around the place and earn enough coin to cover our stay here, I wonder how much I would be able to earn when I become a master and go around healing noble kids or something, that will be nice.
The next morning we take a commission to hunt down an ice wraith that has been terrorizing the local livestock, we find it with relative ease and while it did almost rip Durrak's throat out I hit it in the face with a good firebolt just in time. This earned us some more money and goodwill.
After that we mostly spent our time carousing with the locals and planning out our route, one of the local hunters even offered to guide us there for a fair price which we accepted, better not risk stumbling onto something very dangerous on our own, and I do for a fact remember there being a load of Falmer caves around, and from what we learned there are also a bunch of reiklings towards the mountains, hmm I sense some gawblin slaying in the future.
Later that day we also got news of a terrible fight erupting in the Windhelm docks, people are saying that some maddened mages from outside the city controlled the poor innocent Nords into killing each other, and people are buying that shit, seriously what the fuck?
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We leave early the next day, the road to Winterhold will take us a day and a bit, which means at least one stop and there are no inns this time.
Marching to the snow as a fire attuned creature is an experience I would most definitively wish upon my enemies, seriously its almost like being burned alive but in reverse, thankfully we did buy those cloaks or I would straight up be trying to warm myself with my spells at this point, and I assure you that is a terrible idea.
Morrigan seems to share my opinion of the weather and is shaking even with the cloak, Durrak as is his usual MO is just not giving a flying fuck, seriously what are you made of?!
Our escort doesn't even seem to notice the cold, but that one I can understand he is a Dagoth damned Nord.
On the road we are spotted by a snow bear, but the hunter instructs us to keep our distance and calmly walk away, they are not aggressive in this time of the year, thankfully we are left alone.
The night is an absolute hell for me, the tents are warm but are constantly invaded by cold winds no matter what I do, it is like having a too small blanket with one end constantly being uncovered. Everyone seems amused by my 'overreaction' in their own words, but I am built for volcanoes not glaciers dammit.
The morning comes far too slowly, but thankfully it is a warm day, or well warmer than the previous one anyway. Thankfully we only have some hours of walking left.
Finally after what felt like an age of trudging through snow and cold winds we are greeted by dilapidated but still standing stone walls surrounding not quite a city, but certainly a town and behind it I see the college in all its glory, also far bigger than what I remember, but I will take it all in when I am actually closer to it.
Before we enter I check the progress I made in these couple of days.
[Quest complete, reward granted: stealth-novice]
[Vit: 8 => 8.2]
