Another day post 2

 I had just finished my breakfast when I heard a clatter as someone dropped the try they were holding, I turned and saw Kleepers son, seeing the look on his face I got a knot in the pit of my stomach. Turning further to see what he was gawking at I saw my employer walking out of the hallway into the common room. She was wearing another sweater and somehow this one was even tighter than the one she had worn yesterday. I let out a sigh of frustration, it wasn't dragons and sabre cat's that I would be having to save her from, it would be the whole population of males with nefarious ideas, maybe some women as well.

   I got up and walked over to her and asked if her breakfast had been alright, as I had asked Kleepers wife to take her some wash water and breakfast this morning. She said thank you and asked if I was ready to go, she needed to find Calcemo and introduce herself, as his investors had hired her to help him with some of the grunt work of going on expeditions that he himself deemed to dangerous.

    It seemed Calcemo had something for her to do, a giant spider was keeping his crew from going into a ruin that was under the city, he wanted her to go get rid of it. That is exactly what we did. I am not certain why she needs a crew to keep the expedition safe as she has some wicked skills with magic.

   We first ran into some small spiders and folks when I say small I am only talking relative as they were the size of a full grown mastiff. I only got a few of them she took care of the rest. it was a gruesome site the two of us covered in ichor from the spiders. We continued on down the tunnel til we got to a large room, their a couple of the smaller spiders were running around along with some spiderlings. She conjured up a flame Atronach and then a sword in one hand and what looked like a ball of fire in the other.

     The smaller spiders were gone in no time at all, then the largest spider I have ever seen dropped down from the ceiling and was hissing with anger. My fierce little elf hissed back and threw a fireball that lit up the room, then danced around a pillar and readied another as Nimhe came at her. I pulled out my bow and started shooting at it from a good distance away, staying near the entrance to the tunnels.

    I watched in appreciation as Minervia danced around the pole and threw fire balls at the spider. Her Atronach skirted around the edges of the room. Both were throwing balls of flame that lit up the room, somewhat blinding me, so that I needed a second or two to regain my sight. I saw her place two runes on the floor in the directions that the giant spider was most likely to go and when she stepped on one it exploded, which caused her to jerk in the opposite direction and hit the other rune.

     When I could see clearly again Minervia had a conjured battle axe in her hands and was hacking at the monsters head. I drew my sword and ran to help, keeping my shield up,we made short work of Nemhe with our weapons. With one last hack of her battle Axe, Nemhe's head parted from her body and sprayed Mivervia head to toe with Inchor.

    As I cleaned my sword and shield with some cloth I found, I head Minervia say that her sweater was ruined as she plucked at it.. I grinned like a fool I'm afraid, I wonder how many she had that could get ruined. I  looked up to find her staring at me.

  As I dissipated  my battle axe I looked down at my sweater and pulled it slightly away from my body... I muttered about it being ruined, it was one of my favorites and that fool of a laundress had already shrunk it almost past wearing as it was. I looked up to find Vorstag grinning grinning like a fool, damn Nords and their lust for battle.

  I turned and walked over to the body I had noticed, grimacing when I realized it was a dead Imperial guard. The usual guards for most expeditions, Calcemo preferred anyone but Imperials, as they always reported back to the Military Governor. I grabbed the note that I saw half out of the mans pouch and read it. Just as I suspected the man was a guard from an expedition that had went into the ruins some time ago.

    We left out of the spiders chamber and made our way back out to the area Calcemo was using. I gave hem the note and asked him what my job for tomorrow was... Before he could say anything a guard came and said that the Jarl would like to speak with me. I told Calcemo I would see him tomorrow, as I really  needed a bath and a hot meal. I turned and told the guard that I would go and see the Jarl in an hour, as I really needed to clean up, The man said that would be fine and he would inform the Jarl.

   When we got back to the Inn, I asked the Inn keepers wife if she could heat up a cauldron of water for me, she asked if I wouldn't prefer a regular bath and I explained that I had an appointment with the Jarl in less than an hour, so I didn't really have time. She nodded and yelled for her daughter to come and help her. 10 minutes later they were back with 2 kettles of water and a small tub. As I stripped off my clothing and stepped into the small tub and knelt down, they poured one kettle of water slowly over my head and wash my hair, I used the small cloth that I was handed and started scrubbing at my skin, when they were sure that all the goo had been removed from my hair they started on my back. A knock at the door and Hroki went and got another kettle of water, using the two they rinsed me off.

   Frabbi asked me to sit on the bench and they started to dry out my hair, chatting about all the patron's and their quirk's. When I was pink and dry, Hroki said that I should borrow her best dress, because I really should be dressed very nice for the Jarl and none of the clothing I had were really appropriate.  I thanked her and wiggled into the gown, it was pretty long on me, but fit otherwise. Frabbi tisked and said to stand on the bench, the two women then hemmed up the gown, with temporary stitches warning me not to step on it as the stitches would not hold.

    Vorstag gave me a wink as I came out of my room and told me I looked nice. He had cleaned up and looked pretty good himself. We hurried to Understone Keep to and Vorstag talked to the guard who went and told the Steward we were their. The steward looked our way and nodded. The guard came back and said that the Jarl would see us as soon as he had taken care of some other business. We sat down to wait. I Looked around and almost fell of the stone bench as I spied the most handsome man I had ever seen and that's saying something in my  80 years. Their is something to be said for being half elven, even if you don't know your full heritage.

   When the Steward came and got Minervia, I stood and walked just next to the guards. Our job's being the same, guarding.



****** As I write my characters stories as I play... one inspiring the other.. I am putting this story on hold for a bit. I managed to delete the character and their was quiet a bit of things done before I took up the story. I will get back to Minervia, as this is a story that I have very much wanted to play out. It will just be a little while before I want to go back through everything needed to become Thane of the Reach and own the house.....

1st Time in Markarth ( post 1)

     I left the Khajiit caravan right out side Markarth, I had said my goodbyes when we got close, as I knew they would be busy this close to sundown. They had tried to get me to stay with them til morning saying that Markarth was a dangerous town by night, but I wanted to get a room and somewhat settled. 

    I loitered at the entrance to town, as the architecture was beautiful. The sun was painting the stone a brilliant orange as I entered the gates. The very first thing I saw was a man killing a woman. The Khajiit were right, Markarth really was a dangerous town. As I hurried toward the Inn, a man stopped me and asked if I had seen what had happened. I told him no, he then tried to give me a note that he said I dropped. I knew I had done no such thing, so I played along and then when I got into the Inn I put the note in a brazier.

    I stood their for a minute trying to get my bearings and adjust for the dim lighting. I walked up to the Bar and asked the innkeeper for a room and a meal. He yelled at his wife to get me a dinner and then showed me which room would be mine. I came back out into the common area and sat at the bar, as their were no private tables. 

     As I ate I looked around, knowing that some of the men and women in this room would be the mercenaries I would need, others would be thug's and low life's. My eye's kept drifting towards two men, one a Nord swordsman, the other an Altmer and by the robes a mage. I didn't need the mage right now or at least not to hire anyway, but the Nord might be exactly what I need. How to approach him, I looked strait at him and found he was looking back at me. So I tilted my head slightly and nodded, he took that exactly the way I had hoped and made his way over to me.

     I sat their eating what would be my last meal, thankfully my lodging paid for the month, wondering where I was going to get some coin. I had seen no travelers that would need a guard, nor traders or really anyone else. I looked across the room at the other mercenary in the room, caught his eye and we both had the same look on our face, so I knew he didn't have any job's lined up either. I would ask Arimon tomorrow if he wanted to go in with me on a bounty, the steward always had some. That would at the very least feed and house the two of us for a week or so, perhaps more if it paid good enough.

    Just as I was about to get up and go talk to him, when  in walked what for a second I took as a child, huge turquoise eyes,  blinked a couple times adjusting to the dim light, then had a slightly fearful cast to them as she looked around. As she pulled the hood back from her face, I reassessed her age, elves even half elven Bretons didn't age the same way most human races did. She talked to Kleeper for a moment and he yelled at his wife for a meal, he then lead her to a room. 

     As Kleeper walked back into the bar, he talked over his shoulder, so I knew she was coming back. Gone was the travel cloak and the tight sweater  she had worn underneath it left little doubt that she was fully adult, even if one of the smallest women I had ever seen. I felt as much as saw the stirring in the crowd, all the males in the Inn had noticed her also. She sat opposite me at the bar and I looked over her head at Arimon and he raised an eyebrow and shook his head... yeah he knew trouble when he saw it. He got up and walked to a vantage point on the other side of the room, away from her. He would watch my back if their was trouble. 

    I sat up straiter as one of the thug's walked up to her and made a crude suggestion about how they could spend the night, it wasn't subtle and it was loud enough for the crowd to hear. Kleeper started over for her, he really was protective of his paying customers, but as she laid a hand on the thugs chest, his face went white and you could smell burnt hair. She smiled at Kleeper and he grabbed the thug and threw him out of the bar, saying something to the guard that was usually right outside. 

   She said thank you as Kleepers daughter brought her her food and picked up the fork and had a good look around as she slowly ate. I did notice her eye's stopping on Arimon and myself with a look of speculation, for a moment I wondered at the interest. As she finished her dinner, she caught my eye and tilted her head toward the chair next to her and nodded. So I stood up and walked over to her and sat down.

    

   I watched as the Nord walked over to the chair next to mine and sat down. He had all the muscle and grace of an expert swordsman, but did he know the town and area? That was the pertinent question.

   He kept his distance from me but was still close enough that I didn't have to talk loudly when I asked him if he was in fact a mercenary and how much of the area did he know?  He said he was and that he had grown up in a small mining town not far from here and knew enough to get around. Then I asked him the question's that often made mercenaries run like the fires of Oblivion where after them. Would he mind taking orders from a female and did he mind being underground, because  if he excepted the contract to protect her and if he had the skill to be head of security for her expeiditions into Dwemer ruins. I sat their looking at him in expectation, I really did need someone right away, I knew I would probably have to travel to other towns to get my work crew.

   I sat next to her, making sure their was enough space between us she would not get the wrong idea, but also close enough that she would not have to raise her voice. As she asked her questions about my skills and abilities and gave me a run down of why she needed a mercenary guard in the first place, I knew that this would be a good job and probably somewhat long term. I decided then and their that underground or not, I would take the job if offered and if I played my cards right I could probably get Arimon a position also. 

   I told her that it didn't bother me to be underground and that I even know of a couple  small Dwemer ruins that might be unknown to anyone not native to the area. I did set out some terms, that even though she would be in charge of any expedition, I would be incharge of security and if I thought a place was unsafe, she would listen to me. She pursed her lips and got a rather mulish look on her face for a minute, but then cocked her head to the side like she was listening to someone, sighed and nodded. We discused what was needed for a little longer and then she asked if I was going to except the contract, with a look on her face that said she would be patient while I thought about it.

    I told her I would except the job and when would she need me to start? She gave me the coin that we had agreed upon and said that as of 6 am tomorrow, I was to start my job as her bodyguard and when she got her first assignment,  I would know and could plan accordingly. With that she got up and went to her room.

  I sat there for a minute longer and then felt Arimon's presence as he took the chair she had vacated. I got Kleepers attention and gave him 2 months worth of lodging rent plus food.. Then I handed Arimon some coin and asked him to look into finding some reliable merc's for the expeditions we would be going on.  I had some people in mind and where he could probably find them. Writing would be alright, just tell them to take short term jobs. As she sat writing down the names and the Inn's they could be found at, I started thinking of all the supplies that would be needed and who would be the best vendors to get them from.

   I asked Arimon how he was doing for coin and he said better than I was, because he enchanted weapons and armor for people for coin, it at least kept him housed and fed, if little more. I left Arimon writing letters and went to bed, when I got up in the morning Kleeper handed me a note from Arimon  saying that all the letters had been written and would go out with the courrier today.

   I sat eating my breakfast waiting on Minervia to wake up.