» Thu Apr 21, 2011 1:17 pm
I had been hanging out with Methredel a lot lately, she was doing well with the thieves guild now. Even though her and Armand were supposed to be somewhat of a thing now, he keeps coming on to me. I even agreed to do a job for the thieves guild, just to keep him off my back for a while. The gold I made by selling off all my loot, Methredel and I quickly spent on http://i52.tinypic.com/14xngqw.jpg and wine. Once again I was broke, and I had to do a few more fights at the Arena to keep the Septims coming in. With Armand being a continuous nuisance, I decided it was time to hit the road again. To think I used to find him attractive, and now he's nothing more than a pathetic excuse of a man. I actually woke up one night with him sitting on a chair next to my bed staring at me. Creepy.
I decided to head west, towards Skingrad. I had collected a great deal of this plant called Nirnroot, and Claudette at the Gilded Carafe had told me to see this guy in Skingrad. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to a bit of Surilie quality time as well, but my real goal with this trip was Anvil. The Anvil chapter of the fighter's guild had requested I come visit for some publicity event, and I had heard lots of rumors about prophets and attacks on the Anvil Chapel, and I thought I'd check that out. That would also take me past Kvatch where I was supposed to fetch the Emperor's illegitimate son, Martin. I would go meet him and deliver him to Jauffre in Chorrol after I visited Anvil. A nice little round trip.
It felt weird planning my life out like that, I never used to do that. I guess I was becoming a real adventurer with places to be and things to do. People had even started recognizing me in the street, calling me a Hero of the Arena. I never heard their shouts and roars during the fights, though, as I still get tunnel vision and hear my heart pounding in my ears every time those gates go down.
I spent almost a week in Skingrad, Davide and I had a lot of...catching up, to do. Davide is a Breton like myself, and he too made the move south to try his luck here, but found it in a different place than I did.
The weird old man with the plants, Sinderion, lived in the cellar of the West Weald Inn, and he surely knew what he was doing! I came down there every day and in exchange for some of the Nirnroots I had found he taught me a great deal about alchemy. It's very useful and I think I'll start making my own potions to carry around. He trained me in the use of alchemical equipment and explained about the usefulness of various ingredients, and I think I got the hang of it. I might have a green thumb after all.
A week later I hit the Gold Road west toward Kvatch and the Gold Coast. Davide walked with me out of the town and we said our goodbyes in the shrubs behind his vineyard. I'm already eager to be back here, but I had to be on my way.
Remembering what Sinderion had taught me I decided to leave the road and walk through the wilderness in order to collect plants and other ingredients for my potions. It made for a pretty hike too.
I had taken a lot longer to get to Kvatch than planned due to my detour, and I was pressing hard to make it there before nightfall before continuing west to the Gold Coast. As I reached the top of a small hill, I spotted the http://i54.tinypic.com/a3gmes.jpg perched atop of a mountain. But even in the dusk I could tell something was not right. The fires were too big to have been lit on purpose, and all vegetation around the walls looked dead. As I took the direct route up the mountainside, my fears were being realized. The lands were scorched as if by a blast of fire, and the city looked to be in ruins. Fires were everywhere, and parts of the city walls lay in ruins. As I round on a corner of the wall I came upon a quickly rigged together barricade, manned by what appeared to be a handful of Kvatch city guards.
As a chill ran down my spine I grew goose bumps all over my body. I suddenly very much missed the warmth of Davide's arms around me during the sunsets we enjoyed at his vineyard.
This can't be what's left of the city...what had happened here?!