[Solitude - Winking Skeever Inn]
Antoine Strongknot had been watching the Bard lady singing and dancing around the tables. So lithe, so pretty, such a wonderful voice, as she lingered near his table and sang shanties from the sea, the lure of the ruby ring sitting on the table was working. His smile charming, the out of town well dressed sailor with bright eyes probably helped. As she finished her set, the songstress went over to the bar and he thought his hopes were dashed, but a moment later she sauntered over to his table, setting her lute on another and sat down, casually palming the ruby ring as she did so.
"That's for me I take it. You like my singing?" "Aye, I did, and much more lass, much much more," he replied with a smile.
"It's getting late, maybe you can tell me more about what you liked, somewhere, more private perhaps?" "Yes, I think that would be most splendid and I just so happen to have a private room upstairs that the Innkeeper assured me was the best room." He stood up, picked up her lute, offered his hand and they walked down the hall towards the stairs. As the past a bulletin board full of job offers and job searchers and miscellaneous things for sale, one particular notice caught his attention and he stopped and pulled it from the board, almost knocking the lass to the ground.
"Hey! Watch it, you'll smash the lute if you keep doing that!" "My apologies lass, but that note caught my eye and I had to have it." He smiled and gave her a mischievous smile and a peck on the cheek,
"Come on my songbird, we've got some details to discuss." They headed up to his room and a short time later there could be heard giggling and other enthusiastic sounds to the rhythm of a headboard bouncing off a wall.
Later on in the very early hours of the morning, Antoine got up kissing the lass on cheek eliciting a sleepy smile. He got quietly got dressed and then re-read the note that he pulled off the boards:
"Dear adventurer,
If you are reading this letter it is because you are presumably one of the bravest, boldest, brightest and best in your hold. Your respective Jarl has chosen you for a very important job. You see, I am feeble and unable to dive into the caves and ruins of this land anymore. So, I am requesting the assistance of the most skilled people in all of Skyrim to do a job for me.
Please come see me in The Dead Man's Drink in Falkreath for details.
The Tiger's Paw"
This message was obviously intended for someone specific and either the Jarl was to lazy to find the person it was sent to or didn't know of anyone that was the "bravest, boldest, etc" to be the willing recipient of the note.
However, seeing as how he was wanted in this city by the Empire and its navy, he decided it might be interesting to take up the job and find this mysterious "Tiger's Paw" of a person. What a pretentious name! I wonder what could be so important to this person that he's sent out requests to all of Skyrim. He shrugged, and finished pulling on his boots. Adjusting his sword belts and satchels and then pulling on his coat. He was probably being a bit pretentious too with this flamboyant coat, but he loved its look and well, what better way to spend some of his loot.
Speaking of which, he leaned over and squeezed the pretty songbird one more time and kissed her again, before leaving a fine golden amulet of Kynareth on the nightstand. He quickly jotted out a note to her also, telling her that he had a wonderful night and that he hoped to see her when he returned.
With that he picked up his duffel bag, left the room, left the tavern and made his way through the night to the stables where he found the carriage and driver waiting.
"Take me to Falkreath at best speed driver!" "That'll be 50 septims," replied the driver.
"Make it there before sunrise and you'll have this," he flashed a flawless sapphire for a moment.
"You'll not get a wink of rest in before we're there, although... have you heard the rumors of the place?" Antoine boarded the carriage just barely sitting down and they were off, the horses kicking up dirt and the carriages slewing around the road.
"What rumors?" He yelled to the driver, who looked over his shoulder and replied,
"there's rumors of something foul and deadly there. A fog has been over the place for weeks now and people are leaving the town for fear of what is going to happen or what has happened." "Like what?" Antoine asked.
"Like mysterious deaths, a mysterious man, someone drawing all the adventures like yourself there. That reminds me, I'm not going into that town... there's no place to turn around. I have to drop you off at the end of the road leading into town. It's only another hundred yards or so to the town from the intersection."
They flew over the bridge at Dragon's Bridge, nearly getting airborne in the process. Antoine was smiling as he hadn't had this much fun since chasing down merchant ships and running from the Navy. He wished he had a halyard to hold onto with out stretched arms. They raced passed the river and through an obvious trap by bandits that the driver shouted at, Robber's Gorge he called it. They were soon racing out onto the open plains and up a long road. They stopped briefly in a small hamlet called Rorikstead and changed horses. Antoine was surprised there was a team of horses waiting and they were swapped out really quickly.
"Do you do this kind of travel often?" He asked the driver as they cleared the town heading east.
"Not a lot, but when they hear the carriages racing up the hills they get the standby teams ready. I'll pick up another team in Riverwood before heading north to Whiterun where I can rest, usually, and pick up another fare."
The carriage flashed passed Gjukar's Monument, the site of some ancient battle, at least that's what Antoine thought he heard the driver say over the rattle of the carriage and the galloping horses.They passed by a fort, Sungard the driver yelled as the flew threw an intersection and started up a hill into the mountain pass. What seemed like minutes later they were passing by a lumber mill and then barely slowed down to make turn by an old tower.
"That's Falkreath Watchtower, we've entered the towns northern border! It'll be another minute or so to reach the town and the drop off point," shouted the driver. He saw a small domed ruin just off the road as they went passed the tower, then down a slight hill and around a corner. Off to the west, as they rounded another corner he could see through the woods the ruins of another fort, but the driver was to busy to shout its name out as he started slowing the horses. They reached the intersection as the sun was just coming over the mountains to the east, highlighting the smoke of villages further east. Just to the north at the top of the mountains he could make out an old Nordic ruin looking like a crooked finger sticking out of the mountain. Antoine got down from the carriage and with a laugh looked at the driver whose wind blown hair seemed to stick out in every direction, handed the man the sapphire and thanked him for such a fun ride. The carriage driver laughed, thanked him for the payment and was gone, just as quick as he arrived.
No sooner did the carriage disappear up the road when a fog so thick he could not make out the Falkreath gate anymore closed in, worse than some of the weather he'd seen on the coasts of the Abecean Sea. The sun had just risen and yet the fog was thick it was almost like late evening already. Antoine shivered and wondered what had he gotten himself into, but walked on towards the gates of the town. A guard stepped out of nowhere, at least it seemed like that and stopped him,
"where do you think you're going mister?" "I'm here on business with the Jarl, if you must know," Antoine replied.
"Well, you watch yourself, we don't take kindly to strangers around here as of late, to many townsfolk gone missing as such. Go on then." Antoine walked up to the Dead Man's Drink, the towns tavern and entered.
The fire was low and he didn't see anyone around. He stepped up to the bar and was about to help himself to the coin purse someone absently left on the counter when a
"tsk tsk" came from a dark corner that was behind the door.
"Damn, didn't think to look behind the door. You're getting old Toine" he thought. Turning towards the voice, he saw a figure that wore hooded robes and his face and hands were wrapped in bandages as if he had been badly burned.
"If you've come for the job offer, you're a little late friend. Who might you be?" said the figure.
"Well, that depends on who you might be friend, because I am looking for someone in reference to a job, but they've got a rather interesting signature." "That signature would be the Tiger's Paw, and I am the one you are looking for then, so, will you tell me you name?" With a flourish of his hand Antoine replied,
"I am, Captain Antoine Strongknot, of Breton, seeking some adventure in these parts to further his reputation. What then is this job offer?"
The bandaged fellow, this Tiger's Paw, laughed,
"Captain Antoine Strongknot you say? Are you sure you're not Captain Hawksley, scourge of the Abecean Sea, wanted by both the Aldmeri and Empire Navies?" With a dismissive hand he continued,
"No need to reply, we know who you are sir and your reputation proceeds you. As for the job, I'm sending you to Shriekwind Bastion. You know this place? No? It is just north-east of here. I need you to retrieve something for me, an artifact, it used to belong to my ancestors, you see, and it was thought to have been lost in this land two Eras ago." He paused then continued,
"I see you're skeptical and need to know what the artifact looks like. Just like the others that have failed before you." He sighed and slid a piece of paper forward with a bandaged hand.
"This is a rough drawing of the object. Now, please go, and try to stay alive." He laughed, or more closely snarled and hissed.
Antoine took the paper drawing and studied it before asking,
"How much for completing the job?" "There's a substantial reward for retrieving the artifact, don't you worry about that!" snarled the bandaged man.
"Oh I'm not worried," said Antoine,
"because you're going to give me 200 gold now, just for expenses and WHEN I get back, you'll pay me ten times that amount if you want your artifact returned safely. Otherwise, I might take it back to Solitude or maybe HighRock and sell it to an antiques dealer." The bandaged man hissed,
"YOU make demands of me now? Before you've even started the search?!" "You betcha," replied Antoine,
"I've not made my wealth by waiting to get paid nor by accepting the pitiful *reward* usually offered for a dangerous task. You seem to know who I am, you should know this." He tossed the drawing back on the table and was about to leave when the bandage man spoke up again,
"Very well! You drive a hard bargain, and yes we know about your tactics. Here," the man replied tossing a coin purse on the table atop the drawing.
"There's your gold, now do we have a deal." Not surprised at all, Antoine smiled broadly and said,
"Sure, Don't try and cross me again, or you'll be needing more than bandages to hide your face." He picked up the coin purse and the drawing, stuffing them in his satchel and turned to leave.
"Hey, Taverns not opened yet, you shouldn't be in here," cried the tavern owner as the came out of a back room all groggy with sleep.
"Sorry, didn't realize you weren't open yet, I'm just leaving anyways," replied Antione.
With that he stepped outside into the fog again. He had just taken a step off the tavern porch when he knocked over guard, who he then helped up while relieving him of his coin purse.
"Hey! Don't I know you?" said the guard.
"Nope! just passing through, speaking of which do you know where the Shriekwind Bastion is?" The guard looked at him funny and said,
"I'm sure I remember your face... maybe on a poster... " Antoine didn't want to have to deal with the guard and only wanted directions so he palmed the guards coin purse as if he'd reached into his vest and pulled it out, then handed it to the guard,
"Here, take this and just forget about me and give me directions to the ruins, okay?" The guard hesitated a moment, then weighing the coin purse he shrugged and said,
"Sure, sure, it probably wasn't you anyways. Those ruins are, uhm... lets see, oh yeah, go out the west gate and follow the road north, take a right at the intersection and the trail to it will be on the right. Good luck finding it in this fog though, and watch yourself out there. Strange things have been happening lately."
Antoine didn't waste time waiting on the guard to think about where the coins came from and left Falkreath's western gate. After a few minutes in the thick fog and almost losing the road twice, he broke a branch off a tree and popped magelight onto the stick, holding it up like a torch he wandered up the road and found the intersection and then the trail. The light went out just as he was approaching the large arched entrance of the ruins. The flickering light of a campfire could be seen under the heavy wooden doors. He approached the doors and pushed on them. The doors slowly creaked open and he saw several other adventures sitting around the campfire. With his hands ready to draw his cutlass' he approached the group and with a smile said,
"Ah, I see I am not the only one sent on this errand of the bandaged man it seems. For what else would we be doing in this dismal place but to search for some ancient artifact." He strolled over to a barrel with a block of cheese on it, the edges turning brown with age and maybe mold. Picking up the chunk of cheese, he pulled a dagger from his belt and carved off the brown and moldy edges and took a bite,
"Eidar Cheese, tastey!" He hopped up onto the barrel and took a bottle of mead from another.
"So, why you all waiting here?"