Bab 48: Bearsbane
We arrived at Falkreath in the evening of our first day out from the recently depopulated bandit fortress. I smiled as I looked at an actual town of two thousand residents rather than twenty.
Skyrim was roughly equivalent in landmass to Italy, and had a law abiding population of over one hundred and ten thousand. While I loved the game dearly, Bethesda never made an attempt to add more than a skeleton crew of NPC's to their games.
We spent a good hour just passing by the various farms and ranches - mostly pigs and goats and chickens - before arriving in the heart of the town with the various businesses named using a macabre theme in reference to the town's legendary graveyard.
Using the dying light of the sun I looked over a notice board outside of the Dead Man's Drink, the largest of the town's inns. I spotted a bounty for the bandits we had slain for 120 septims (I have changed both the value and size of septims because carrying thousands of fat daddy gold coins is both ridiculous by weight and by volume) placed by the Jarl's steward, Denya, and took it down to claim it in the morning.
When I ducked under the doorway sideways to enter the busy inn all conversation stopped and all eyes stared at me in horror.
"By the Divines!" a man shouted, "It's a monster!"
"Oh gods!" a woman screamed, "Its got armor and a huge axe!
As the people worked themselves into a frenzy Jack came in and shouted, "Shut the fuck up! It's like you people have never seen a giant argonian before!"
"Language!" A man roared, "There are children present!"
He indicated to a nearby girl about nine years old guzzingly a big ol' beer with a flushed face.
"I wanna ride zhe big lizard!" the girl squealed.
"Maybe in a couple of years if you ask nicely." Jack nodded her head at the girl.
"But I want to ride 'im now!" She complained.
The children grow up so fast here.
"That's not an argonian!" a drunk man shouted, "That thing looks like it ate an argonian!"
I see you drunk batman.
Fortunately Skyrim's greatest detective fell over and passed out before I could break under questioning. I've seen the First 48. These people can murder a guy but can't manage to lie for 15 minutes. I don't judge though. I usually scream the confession of my crimes in my accuser's face while popping his head.
"Everyone calm down!" the imperial bartender shouted, "I've heard of giant argonians in Black Marsh. I just never expected them to be this big!"
"If Valga knows of giant argonians then it must be true!" shouted a man, "Sorry for the poor welcome friend!"
"Why would the bartender's word be so important?" Jack asked me quietly.
"Pre search engine society." I told her, "The bartender interacts with the most people and hears the most stories, and thus knows the most and is the final arbiter of truth."
Jack nodded her head and we took up an empty space at the old oak bar top.
"What can I get for you?' The woman asked.
"Dinner, drinks, a bed, and breakfast." Jack told her.
"I'd normally charge a pair of septims for that, but your companion looks like he needs a bit more food and drink than most."
"Husband." Jack corrected as I put down five septims.
"You are right about food and drink though." I grinned.
Five septims bought us three roast chickens, four bowls of fish stew, five loaves of bread, and six baked potatoes, all the ale we could drink and an equally large breakfast coming to us the next morning.
I had to stand at the bar after the stool moaned enough to let me know it wouldn't hold my weight, and I devoured our wonderful dinner while Jack chatted up the bar keep.
"How long have you been married?" the imperial woman, Valga, asked.
"13 years." Jack answered and ate a bit of soup.
"So long!" the surprised woman gasped, "You must have been barely more than a child!"
"I was 24." Jack denied.
"Incredible, you look so young." Valga complimented.
With the vitality we'd gained from Jabba and Jar-Shak, Jack had the smooth skin of a well washed teenager and the thick and lustrous hair of a pregnant woman. I also hadn't aged much either despite no longer having access to krogan Zohan's magic skin care products, but it's not like these people would be able to identify a young krogan.
When we finished dinner I let out a satisfied sign and rubbed my belly. I'd been away from familiar earth food for 14 years and while I truly enjoyed the incredible variety I had at my fingertips because of my reach across the sea of stars, sometimes a man just wants some chicken. And sometimes someone has to die for it.
"You look like a warrior hand made by the Divines. How have I never heard of you?" Valga asked me.
I wiped my mouth with a handkerchief and answered, "Though you've never heard of me, I have killed three of the greatest swordsmen to ever live, slain the most powerful beasts that be, and I have cast down a race of machine gods far beyond anything the dwemer ever imagined. Now I am in Skyrim, and if fate holds you all will soon have need of the biggest, strongest, and hardest to kill man that is."
"Well…" Valga gaped, "That doesn't sound good."
"It probably won't be." I agreed, thinking of the unkillable dragon that is the bringer of the Apocalypse in this universe, and how he is, if my memory serves, less than four months away from showing up on the top of Helgen Keep and kicking off the end of the world.
Thank God I had the Dragonborn coming to handle that shit.
When the locals cleared out to go home, Narri - Valga's assistant - led us up to our room.
"It's a real shame you are married." the nord woman eyed me up like a particularly well grilled slab of meat, "I don't think I've ever seen so much man in one man."
Jack grabbed her as she turned to leave and pulled her into our rented room.
"I don't see what the problem is." She grinned then looked at the bed, "Think that will hold up?"
I shook my head, "Best if we fuck standing."
We made our way down to breakfast with a limping Narri in tow.
"I didn't know you were a screamer." Valga slyly stated while smirking at her assistant.
"Neither did I." Narri shook her head, "He even made me spray fluids like I've never seen before."
"He made you squirt?" gasped the shocked bar keep.
"Over and over, it didn't even make sense as I don't think I even drink that much in a day." gossiped our newest lover as I dug into my big boy works hard breakfast.
"I was up all night burning with envy and now I don't think my poor lonely heart can bear it." Valga admitted.
"You should have joined us. Maybe Narri would still be able to walk straight if you did." Jack teased.
"Nah." I denied, "They'd both be limping."
"I don't understand how you can be alright after what I saw the both of you doing." Narri rolled her eyes at Jack, "I've never heard of anyone going so hard ever."
"If Grunt is the toughest person in the world, I am number two." Jack stated, "I can survive things no one else can."
Jack and the girls continued the chatter while I finished fueling up for the day. When I finished we traveled to the Jarl's longhouse and only had to wait through two prior petitioners to get our meeting with the high elf steward, Denya. I knew from the first sight of her golden skin that I had a new goal in life, to find a nubile and freaky young high elf and rock her world.
"You claim to have completed the bounty of the bandits at Fort Nuegrad?" the high elf muttered, "I don't doubt it by the look of you, but you will have to wait for a rider to confirm it before I can release the payment."
We both understood. CONSTANT VIGILANCE keeps the shysters and snake oil salesmen away from your cash.
"Would you be interested in more bounty work?" the steward asked, "We have had a few incidents with a large pack of wolves and some local hunters have reported tracks of an incredibly large bear in the area. I am paying out five septims a hide for the wolves and sixty for the bear."
"We were planning to travel to Whiterun and join the companions." I told her of our other plans.
"The Companions have been very tight fisted in their recruiting in recent years. If you take on the bounties I will include a letter of recommendation signed by Jarl Siddgeir. They wouldn't scorn one of the Jarls unless he sent truly unworthy wretches."
"Then we have an accord." I agreed to take on the work.
It took us three days of tracking to hunt down the wolves. A huge pack of thirty timber wolves, all of them incredibly tough and quick, but not not quick enough to beat us. We only took down a dozen, and drove the rest off, but the sixty septims for three days of work kept us ahead despite our hefty tavern bill each day.
We met the bear on our first day searching for it and the hunters severely underestimated the thing's mass. The enormous short snout black bear stood as tall as me at the shoulder and weighed over a thousand kilos.
The bear and I wrestled and it nearly matched my strength, but couldn't get through my skin with its claws and fangs. After a brief struggle I wrapped my arms around its neck and squeezed until I choked it to death.
Saying fuck it to skinning this behemoth I pulled it over my shoulders and hulled it into town, dropping it outside of the Jarl's longhouse to the roar of an approving crowd as everyone we passed by followed us.
Denya tripled the pay for the bear and hired a trio of local hunters to skin the thing. The lazy Jarl of Falkreath called for a feast and hung the hide on the wall behind his throne. Even the surliest nords greeted us with good cheer after seeing what we'd accomplished and during the merry making the Jarl stood up and held up two arm bands of twisted gold with nordic bear heads on the mouth of the band.
"I had to pay Lod quite the ransom to get these made so quickly!" He announced to the cheering crowd, "But what Jarl could ignore such a mighty feat in their hold? Today I present these rings to Falkreath's newest Thanes, Jack and Grunt Bearsbane!"
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
JManM
JManM I am very curious about how people found the story. Did you see it in the weekly featured, or the ads when you back out of a story, or did you search for Mass Effect specifically.
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Bab 49: The March to Jorrvaskr
It took us three days to march up to Helgan, the fortress town that controlled the major passage of southern Skyrim through the Jerall Mountains. The town had just over five hundred residents minus the garrisoned legionnaires. I joined these guys in Morrowind, fought beside them during the Oblivion Crisis, these are the soldiers that put all of Tamriel under their heel and declared their founding leader a god. They fought off the invasions of Akavir.
And now they couldn't beat the high elves and were forced to renounce their god. They even struggled to put down a provincial rebellion that half the people didn't support. It felt like looking at your grandfather in his eighties and remembering how he was still strong and crafty enough to kick your ass thirty years ago.
We stayed at the local inn again, once more going through song and dance of convincing people I am not a monster who ate an argonian.
It hurt my heart to lie to all these simple folk.
The Thane arm rings certainly helped calm people down as they believed no Jarl would elevate an actual cannibal to such a respected title.
It was only a day's walk down to Riverrun and along the way we stopped at the standing stones of the the Warrior, the Thief, and the Mage.
"I remember coming here. Praying that the Mage Stone would allow me to follow my dream." Jack mused as she ran her hand over the familiar stone.
Poor kid should have sought out the Atronach Stone, it would have given him just enough magicka to work the lesser magics.
Both of us activated the Warrior Stone and the power of the stars entered us, increasing our talents for the martial skills of this world. The stars were hugely important in this verse, the various constellations providing power in the form of birthsigns, standing stones, and perks for those skilled enough to meditate on the specific stars in various formations.
Jar-Shak had only learned the stars for the magical skills, and he new them by heart from boyhood, but I had been able to purchase a few texts and manuals on the other two primary disciplines and Jack and I had been spending a few hours each evening focusing our minds on the stars.
It revealed that our decade of sword instruction in Star Wars hadn't gone to waste as we were experts in single handed weaponry and adepts at blocking. I was also adept in the ways of smithing, but had mastered heavy armor entirely and could meditate on the full constellation at my leisure. Jack had some skills in picking locks, sneaking, and pickpocketing from her time as rogue traveling the galaxy, but she had chosen not to pursue those constellations until we knew we had enough accumulated power to connect with all the stars we wanted in the warrior signs.
Overall it kind of felt like we'd entered a cultivation novel and were gaining new abilities as we furthered our understanding of the great Daos, but when the sun and stars are windows into a plane of unlimited power, who am I to complain?
I liked Riverwood a lot once they stopped screaming about me being a monster. God deliver me, that shit was getting old fast. We got to see Sven trying to woo Camilla Valerius when she arrived at the inn, while Feindal glared daggers at the confident and almost suave bard. I enjoyed both of them looking like they'd eaten shit when the lovely little imperial (assume people aren't the hideous vanilla versions) swooned so hard she had to fan herself when the missus and I made our pass at her. She didn't join us, but that is her loss, not ours.
We even met the annoying bitch herself, Delphine. What a square.
After departing Riverwood the next morning we travelled the road and heard the sounds of shouting and the growling of wolves. Following the sounds at a quick jog we found a large pack of wolves engaged in combat with a pair of nords and a dark elf.
"Incoming!" I yelled an pounced at a wolf while bringing The Mule down axe first on its neck. Jack darted in without the use of her biotics and stabbed another next to me.
"There's more than enough here for the lot of us!" Cheerfully greeted the dark haired nord thick boy, his muscles bulging as he swung his greatsword around with ease.
"What an axe!" Shouted the second nord, a skinnier blonde with lesser hygiene and sloppier movements of his own greataxe.
"Why is everyone in this province so in love with huge weapons?" Shouted the frustrated dark elf as he dispatched another wolf with his short sword and offhand dagger.
I sent a wolf flying with a backswing of my hammer that shot past the dark elves face before I stabbed an oncoming wolf in the mouth.
"That's why!" laughed the big nord as he finished the last wolf off by splitting its skull cleanly.
"Listen, my new big best friend." The slovenly nord greeted, "I need to know who made you that beastly union of hammer, axe, and stabby bit. It speaks to me in ways I don't understand. Entices me like no woman ever has. I think I love it."
"Made it myself." I told him.
"Name's Torvar, Companion of Jorrvaskr, and slayer of whatever you tell me to convince you to make me one like yours." the slovenly nord introduced himself while his companions took off the right ears of all the wolves we killed."
"That's convenient." Jack spoke, "We are traveling to Whiterun to join the Companions."
"Hominahominahomina." The bleary eyed Torvar gurgled as he saw the warrior goddess I am married to.
"Down boy." I told him, "Before the wife puts a world of hurt on ya."
"You are married to that avatar of Dibella!" Torvar cried, "It's true what they say. Some guys really do have all the luck. You are a specimen and a half, can make superweapons of awesome badassery, and you get to cuddle up to her every night! Teach me your ways!"
"You can't handle my ways." I denied him and watched the soul leave his body in pure despair.
"He is telling the truth, Torvar." the dark elf in a hide harness approached after filling his sack of ears, "Even if you weren't such a lazy lout, you wouldn't be able to keep up with one of the giant argonians of the deep swamps. You saw that speed and strength first hand."
"Greetings ashlander." I extended my hand to the dark elf, "I am Grunt Bearsbane and this is my wife Jack."
"Quite strange for an argonian to extend his hand to a dunmer." he referenced the long history of the dark elves enslaving the beast folk, but shook my hand all the same.
"Your people have never enslaved a lizard like me." I chuckled.
"Damn straight." the big nord stated as he walked over, "You can't enslave muscles like that. I am Farkas, the leader of this trio. You have my thanks for joining the fight and I hope that you are accepted at Jorrvaskr."
"Got a letter of recommendation from the Jarl of Falkreath." Jack told him, "Did some bounty work there and even got made Thanes." she took out the gold arm ring from a pouch on her belt.
"Then I doubt anyone will deny you both." Farkas grinned.
It took us a further three days to get to Whiterun, the biggest city in Skyrim with close to thirty thousand residents. We spent a fair bit of time talking to our Companions companions about our understanding of the martial skills and Farkas and I bonded quickly over our love of heavy armor.
I was able to connect to the Tower of Strength star after a conversation with him, proving his skill as a teacher.
The stench of cow shit hung heavy in the air around Whiterun as the great plains around the city were used as pasture for many herds of cattle. The city itself was very well defended with three sets of walls and watchtowers ready to light signal fires to alert from danger from both the north and the south.
We didn't actually enter the city that evening as our detour to the Honningbrew Meadery lasted several hours and resulted in us striking up camp one final time.
Whiterun felt more like a Viking themed Novigrad than the city I remembered, but that just made me more excited to explore it. The city was built on a bluff in three distinct districts each contained within a wide stone wall. The majority of the city bound citizens worked in the Plains district that was encircled by the outermost wall, this is where I saw most of the familiar sights I remembered from the game, such as Warmaiden's and the Drunken Huntsman. We made our way through the busy streets to the Wind District, where most of the people lived and where Jeek of the River upturned his longboat and built the legendary meadhall, Jorrvasker.
Jeek's crew only consisted of twenty two men, so the dwelling they built was quite cozy for the nine current members of the premier mercenary company of Skyrim. We arrived during breakfast, and Farkas shouted our introduction as we entered.
"I left to hunt wolves and returned with new friends!"
"Farkas!" his brother called from his place at the table, "While it is nice that you have found someone you can lift weights with, that doesn't mean they are Companions material."
"Ha!" Farkas barked as he sat down next to Vilkas, "From what I have seen, I'd be safer working out with the wife. The lizard half of the Bearsbane couple is even stronger than he looks, and he looks like he can run with a pair of horses on his shoulders."
"Lighten up Vilkas." Torvar stated, "We know them and fought with them. Plus they got a letter of recommendation from a Jarl. You know, those nine guys who hire us to take care of all sorts of business."
"Having your approval doesn't pass for much." Vilkas spat.
"Peace Vilkas." spoke Kodlack the Harbinger, "I like the way they walk."
The elder warrior rose up and greeted us warmly, "Welcome to Jorrvaskr, friends. You have already proven yourself to three of our number, and in the coming days I have no doubt you will do so for the rest of us as well. Come and eat with us, for the days training will need fuel."
Over the next handful of days Jack and I were the first onto the training yard and the last to leave. With the power of the Warrior Stone and some of the best training partners in the world, our abilities grew quickly and we built our connection to the various stars we wanted to add to our build. Fortunately none of the perks were traps, as the Bladesman star increased the damage of attacks to critical areas and the Bonebreaker star applied to natural armor as well as armor worn. Such quality of life improvements existed throughout all the skill constellations.
By the end of the week of training we had added a fair bit of raw skill to our portfolio and five additional connections to the stars (as they can only form one connection a night). I picked up armsman, fighting stance, and savage strike from the One Handed constellation, and shield wall and quick reflexes from the Block constellation. Jack took up the same as they are all core abilities to our favored gear set up.
At dinner the fifth night of our stay with companions Kodlak called us up and asked if their were any who opposed our membership to the companions. When none spoke up he explained that the final step for us joining the team was to undergo a proving consisting of a mission undertaken with a member of the Circle. After dinner we met with Kodlak and Skjor, the man who would accompany us and it was explained that we would be handling two bounties for the Jarl of Whiterun in a single day by clearing out the bandits encamped at the Halted Stream and those who had taken over the Lunar Forge.
The first had started causing unrest in the local giant population and the second was a sister camp who operated hand in hand with the former.
In all it sounded like a fun day killing folks with a dour old man tagging along.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA
JManM
JManM
Two large chapters today and I am very tired for it. I have taken the liberty of giving the Companions the equipment you hear them talk about and the skills they look like they should have.
I hope I have been doing a good job blending how Skyrim felt in the game with how large it should have been. I won't be making a bunch of OC's to interact with Jack and Grunt, and will only do conversations with the cast from the game, but the world should feel far larger and more lived in.
I think I nailed the tone for each of the Companions.
If you want to support me and my family, you can do so at
ko - fi . com / jmanm
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