Chapter 60: Leaving Nirn
"Is this really all that's left?" Brienne asked with a hitch in her voice.
The girl had made good time to Jorrvaskr. We had just finished up our business in the city and were getting ready to leave for Markarth when she came through the doors of the silent mead hall.
"Vilkas is out there somewhere." I told the girl as I began rifling through one of the chests yet to be loaded onto the carts for long term storage, "How was the fight against Alduin, kid? I have a theory that he weakened himself to open the portal to Sovngarde and was hoping to make that back with interest by devouring the nordic afterlife."
"It was super easy, barely an inconvenience." Brienne answered.
Guess that theory is proven. The dragon was a beast when we fought him, yet in the game you could just let the ancient heroes beat him.
Fucking pathetic.
"Here, kid. Had these made for everyone that participated in the last battle against the dragons." I chucked her a black leather jacket lined with soft fur sporting her name on the left breast and the Dragonslayers patch that Jack designed. She was still very much in love with the biker look and fusing it with Skyrim's Viking aesthetic. She took the wing leather from the dragons we killed to a clothier to make us new outfits. Personally I felt it is cruel to stuff a guy with bulging muscles and four knees into leather pants, but dragon leather was damn stretchy, nature's spandex.
With the dragon's put in check we didn't need to roll in our armor anymore. Who is left that can fight us? Harkon? Please. Miraak? Not a chance.
"What is going to happen with the Companions now?" Brienne asked while looking at the badass patch of a skeletal dragon in a coffin with the Grim reaper closing the lid with one hand from behind and holding his scythe with the other.
"That's going to be up to you and Vilkas if he ever returns." I told her, "I've made a deal with the Jarl to safeguard all the Companions' possessions for the two of you, so if you don't feel like you are ready, we can lock the doors of Jorrvaskr until you are."
"But you and Jack are here, why would you need the Jarl to protect anything when you are a thousand times better than anything he could do?" Brienne questioned.
"Jack and I are planning to leave Skyrim soon." I responded, "We might smash a few baddies so that you can have an easier time, or we might just leave you some adventures left to be had."
"Baddy smashing first, please." Brienne requested, "I think I've had enough adventure in my life."
"I doubt the world is done with you yet, Brienne of Bruma." I chuckled, "But I can smash another baddie. After all there is a vampire with a very stupid plan just asking for a hammer to the face."
"Another, 'Fuck you, I know shit.' scenario?" Brienne cocked a half grin at me.
"You're catching on, Tater Tot." I nodded, "The mind of Grunt is beyond mortal ken."
"Oh great and wise Grunt, please deliver us from the bullshit." she fake worshipped.
"Keep up with the sass and I may just leave you to slog through it." I teased.
"Please don't." Brienne shook her head, "I really did get to skip a lot of bullshit because of you."
"Damn straight." I nodded, "Well at least Serana will be pleased. You want to come with when we slay her dad?"
"I prefer to stay far away from vampires and werewolves. Thank you very much." Brienne stated and I laughed very very hard.
"Your dad definitely has the whole vibe of this castle on point." Jack commented as we fought Harkon's gargoyle guardians on the bridge to his castle.
She cleaved one in two with the ebony blade and flung another into sea below with her biotics.
Coming up to the barred gate I shook my hips and started swinging the Hammer of Might down onto the wooden doors. I broke enough with my first swing to stick my head in and shout "Here's Johnny!"
Shelly Duvall wasn't on the other side, just a bunch of pissed off vampires.
"The prey delivers itself to us!" one of the delusional bloodsuckers shouted.
He turned into a fine red mist after I finished bashing open a proper entry way into this undead hive.
I think the others had a better grasp on the situation, but committed to the defense of their home while Harkon fled deeper within. They didn't buy him much time, just enough to get into his chamber with his blood fountain and transform into his 'vampire lord' form. I think Rada-Al-Saran would like to dispute that.
"Serana!" He bellowed, "You would lead enemies into your father's house?"
"I am so sick of the games you and mother play against each other." our lover growled, "So I am flipping the board. After today I will never have to fear you again father."
"You think this overgrown reptile will save…" Harkon didn't get to finish that thought as Volendrung impacted his chest launching him to the wall of the chamber where he burst into bats and reformed at the fount, erecting a shield while trying to heal himself by pulling our life energy to him with blood magic.
The sound of his shield dropping when my hammer struck it caused the vampire to turn and gape his mouth.
"I don't suppose you might consider switching sides?" the grey skinned bat thing asked.
Turning his head into paste answered that question concisely.
And people say violence is never the answer.
"Well that was neat." Jack commented, "We going to loot the place?"
"I would prefer it if we just leave." Serana stated and led our exit from the castle.
Jack and I explored Skyrim for a bit longer, and quickly decided we would like to get back to a more advanced world. Swords and magic can be fun, but we were ultimately people accustomed to having a galaxy of luxuries at our beck and call. We broached the topic with our vampire lover gracefully.
"So, wanna explore the multiverse with us?" Jack asked her at dinner while I loaded up on interdimensional travel fuel.
"Pardon?" Serana asked in confusion.
"Grunt and I travel to different universes using the magical powers of his cock." Jack explained, "We eat a native when we arrive and gain his or her knowledge and powers. It's pretty sweet and a once in a lifetime opportunity."
"You plan to just leave Nirn behind and do what exactly?" Serana questioned while sipping a goblet of blood.
"Whatever takes hold of our interest." Jack answered, "We've built two empires that span the stars, fought in wars against all kinds of things, hunted giant monsters, slain beasts of the Apocalypse. There is always something to keep the blood pumping."
"No." Serana refused, "I'm not interested in leaving this world after I finally gained a measure of peace in it."
Jack tried her best to keep the hurt off her face, failed at it, but tried valiantly.
"Oh." she sounded, "Okay then. I guess the house and all our stuff is yours. Grunt and I are only taking the essentials."
We had packed up our clothes and a few Skyforge steel daggers along with our enchanted jewelry into a lager leather duffle bag. We'd strapped Volendrung and the Ebony Blade to it as well having taken such a liking to the legendary artifacts.
"I guess this is goodbye." Jack muttered and we left for the bedroom.
After packing away the Horn of Party Hardy and our clothes from the evening Jack and I were left in just our ankle strapped knives and the Ring of Namira that never left my finger.
"I really thought she would come with us." she said glumly while jerking me off.
"People are who zhe are, not whos we wants zhems to be." I slurred in the perfect sweet spot drunk.
"You snag that from a fortune cookie?" Jack asked as she mounted me.
"Podcast." I answered and we got to the business of fucking our way through reality itself.
A while later I signaled that I was two minutes out from finishing. Jack grabbed the strap of our go bag and dragged it with us through the portal to our next universe.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
JManM
JManM So ends the Elder Scrolls Arc. If you felt that Brienne was a Mary Sue then you are right. Just like all the other Elder Scrolls protagonists, Brienne gained a rediculous amount of power in a very short amount of time.
She was also protected and aided by people who wanted what was best for her, rather than what was convient for everyone else. Cough cough Dumbledore cough.
Up next is Gears of War.
You can support me and my family at
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Chapter 61: Gears of War Jump Chapter ( Formerly Welcome to Sera)
Holy shit my head hurts. For the first time more than a single person was affected by the Exit Portal Effect, the phenomena that stuns, disorients, and marks for violent devouring that starts off our travels in a new universe.
This time we had landed on a tightly packed fireteam of Theron Guards led by a Theron Sentinel on a scouting mission to evaluate the Lethia Imulsion Facility as a growing threat to the security perimeter of Nexus as both a Lambent mustering ground and possible incursion point for human attacks on the underground tunnel network known as the Hollow.
Jack and I groaned as our minds worked through the grueling training and education of the elite combatants of a race of subterranean mutants. Fortunately there was a lot of overlap in their lives otherwise this would be less a case of multiple perspectives of the same subject and more like tying our minds to five different horses and lighting their tails on fire. The Theron Guards were superhuman mutants trained as elite commandos capable of seeing in complete darkness, tracking via scent like a dog, and surviving harsh injury and exposure.
We got all that times five with the fifth portion being even more powerful and well trained. I now knew Locust Horde military equipment and doctrine better than I knew Mass Effect technology and tactics, and it wasn't bad doctrine to have burned into my psyche.
The Locust fought extensively in underground and urban environments and domesticated a wide variety of handy war beasts, and the Therons had over a decade of experience each combined with harsh discipline and training that beat the mistakes and stupid out of them. With all that between them, the Torque Bow felt like it had been made for my hands.
"Damn it." Jack muttered as she held an enchanted ring in her hand, "The magic isn't working."
"The Ring of Namira still works." I told her as the extra power from our feast still flowed through me.
She grabbed the Ebony Blade and nodded her head, "So the demon artifacts still work but all the shit not powered by a connection to an interdimensional devil god are now decorative only."
I checked the Hammer of Might and grinned at the thrum of power. There is a fair bit of debate on Malacath's place as a Daedric Prince and the hammer wasn't even something he made himself, but the fact that it still worked as intended despite being in a new universe was another point in favor of the Lord of Outcasts.
I reached over to one of our generous hosts and pulled out his tool kit. He carried everything the team needed to repair their gear in the field, and I used it to put together two new suits of armor for me and the wife. It wasn't pretty, but little in this world is. In truth the armor was a bit superfluous considering my raw durability and regeneration would see me through anything short of a lightmass bombing or a three hour soaking session in an imulsion lake, but it felt right. It felt properly krogan, and that was something that was always a tenuous claim for me and was becoming more and more a distant memory.
The leader carried the majority of the food, his second in command carried their medical supplies, and they all carried enough ammo to hold them through heavy fighting. We had five Torque Bows, Three Hammerburst Assault Rifles, Two Gnasher Shotguns and five Boltok Revolvers. They carried a smattering of grenades and knives between them and I had a hell of a time rigging everything for us to comfortably carry it all.
I stripped the extra three Torque Bows and the odd rifle out for parts and mounted two pistols on a bandolier belt cowboy style for each of us with the last strapped to my chest pointed up and away from my head and made use of the mag tech back holsters for the shotguns and torque bows. We'd carry the rifles, but with our strength and endurance that was no problem.
We chose to continue their mission to the imulsion plant. I knew that we were nearing the start of the first game and I was sure Delta Team would appreciate having the plant cleared out. Those guys sure deserved a little peace on that hectic mission. Not that I didn't expect them not to shoot me on sight. I may not be grey, but I was big and scaly, and definitely not human and if there is anything the war torn years after the Emergence Day taught the Serans it was that anything not human was out to get them.
We arrived to find a gang of the Stranded trying to hold off against Lambent infected wretches, poorly. When we opened up on the glowing yellow chimplike creatures they began popping rapidly, deploying their infectious fumes upon death in a last ditch effort to convert more lifeforms to the Lambent plague.
"Oh thank God help came!" A man cried, "I thought we were done for."
"What the fuck is that!" another cried as I came into view.
One shot me with his shotgun and I stared at him.
"Ow." I deadpanned, "Shoot me again and I will murder and eat everyone you care about."
"Please don't." The shaking man begged.
"It's up to you, dude." I informed him.
"Alright, listen up fucktards." Jack took over, "This place is about to become Locust Central and the Lambent are already here so you all need to find someplace else that sucks less than here to stay."
"We'd gladly leave." stated the bearded leader of this gang of Stranded, "But our transport is broken down and unless we find some parts we can adapt from this facility to get it running again we are stuck. We are way too far out from anywhere to make it to shelter before nightfall."
"Alright." Jack nodded, "Give Grunt here some time to clear out this facility. Till then, I am going to teach you people how to defend a position."
"Damn Lambent are the worst kind of enemies. Fucking stingy enough not not leave behind anything to eat besides brain rot soup." I complained as I used my super nose to lead me to the various groupings of infected wretches that had taken up residence in the Lethia Imulsion Facility.
Getting used to such a hugely empowered sensory organ would take some time. My senses had sharpened after Jabba and Jar-Shak, but neither of those had a genuine super sense, let alone the power of five of those super senses combined. Fortunately between being a krogan, hutt, argonian, and locust hybrid nothing really smelled offensive to me. I wouldn't like to be standing next to a big steaming pile of shit, but at the same time it wouldn't be gag inducing.
I spent an afternoon and evening hunting down all the damn fungus infested cave chimps, only stopping to step out and catch a few of the flying kryll of a snack.
It's funny how these toothy bastards are a nightly disaster for the people of this world, but for a guy with skin that would make steel jealous they are a direct delivery all you can eat buffet. Free too. It will be sad when these guys are all gone due to WMD related extinction.
When I got back to the Stranded camp Jack had set herself up as Queen of the Lost. She had the band of bitter survivalists wrapped around her finger, and why shouldn't she. Jack was an empress twice over with nearly a century of combat training and experience. There were few people I could think of in the worlds of fiction with her drive and survival instincts. To these sad fucks living off the corpse of their civilization she was a goddess come down to show them the way.
"Place is clear for now." I told her, "Can't make any guarantees that things will stay like that till morning, but they are free to poke around the insides of the facility."
"Alright, you heard the man!" Jack yelled at them, "Get to stripping this place, and remember the buddy system! One man works while the other keeps his fucking head on a swivel and his finger on the trigger guard! Trigger guard, not the fucking trigger. Got that Sanchez, or do you want to shoot my husband again and make him eat everyone you love? Your choice, dude."
"I will be working." Sanchez assured her, "No way am I risking death by lizard man."
"There's hope for you yet, Sanchez." Jack nodded, "You're dumber than cats and dogs, but if you live long enough you just might learn enough to walk and chew gum at the same time."
I chuckled as the Stranded got to work.
"You make for a damn fine post apocalyptic queen." I told her.
"I am working in my element, babe." Jack grinned, "This world is going to be my bitch."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
JManM
JManM
Big boost this chapter. I rated Grunt at the end of Mass Effect at the upper levels of Class 5 lifting strength. With Jabba, Jar-Shak, and the 5 Therons he is approaching the upper range of Class 10. I'd put his current lifting strenght as 8.5 tons, which is important considering he isn't going to get much physical might on the next jump and after that I have him and Jack dropping on top of a Brute Chief on the Convenent Supercarrier on the way to Reach. The average Brute is upper Class 10 with the strongest pushing into lower Class 25. And I will be using their literary durablity, not the paper thin defense they had in Halo 3.
I hope someone enjoyed the math I try to keep track of for this story.
You can support me and my family at
ko - fi . com / jmanm
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