A Skyrim Story - Chapter Two

When we last left Kylie, she'd accepted the fact that she had been taken away from her world and dropped onto an entirely different world, in a land called Skyrim. Without knowing how she'd gotten there or how to get back, she'd decided to make the best of it. She practiced her Sneaking abilities during her escape from Helgen, made a few friends in the small village of Riverwood, (one of them, Faendal, wasn't exactly the brightest star in the sky, and gave her some basic training in Archery which - with some 'trading' - she was able to get for free) and even crafted herself some leather armor so she wouldn't be mistaken for either a Stormcloak or an Imperial soldier. After promising the general store's owner she would get back a golden claw which had been stolen from him, Kylie had gone over to the inn, paid for a night's lodging, and ended her first day in Skyrim.

Now, for the disclaimer: Same as Chapter One. Pics are taken from UESP under creative commons license, and captions are not actual gameplay dialogue. They're just there for laughs, because I have a warped sense of humor and have fun coming up with silly captions! Also, in case I didn't mention, many of the tips that are given are assuming you have Hearthfire and Dragonborn expansions. With that being said, time for chapter 2!

 

 

Chapter Two

Show Me the Money!!

     

     Kylie awoke to the smell of food drifting into her room from under the door. For a moment, the feel of the straw bed made her think she was back in the Thieves' Den, and everything that had happened over the past several years had all been a dream. But when she opened her eyes and saw the small room, reality came crashing back down around her.

     She hadn't awoken in the barracks room of the hidden Thieves' Den in the Province's capital city of Silvergate. She wasn't even in the Province. Hell, she wasn't on Tal'Avern, for that matter. Sighing, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and grudgingly got up.

     Opening the door, she took a quick look around the main room of the inn. It was empty, save for a burly man wearing an apron who was standing behind the bar to her left. She grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then headed for the front door to the inn.

     Kylie had barely stepped outside when she caught sight of a woman a short distance away who waved and began walking toward her from the nearby mill that stood behind the blacksmith's shop.

     If she wants me to give a letter to some guy she's been fawning over, Kylie thought, I swear I'm going to...

     "You must be the friend Ralof told me about," the woman said as she approached.

     "Friend?" Kylie asked hesitantly. He couldn't possibly have forgotten what she'd done during their escape from Helgen!

     "He said a friend who wasn't from around here helped him escape Helgen yesterday. I'm his sister..."

     "Gerdur," Kylie guessed, recalling Ralof having mentioned he had a sister, to which the woman nodded.

 

"Brother! What are you doing here?"
"Hiding from the Imperials."
"But... you're wearing the same thing every other Stormcloak does!"
"I would have changed, but none of your dresses fit me anymore."  

     "Thank you for helping my brother," Gerdur said gratefully, and then reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a key. "Here, take the key to my house. Stay as long as you like, and if there's anything you need, just let me know."

     "Um... thanks," Kylie said, unsure how else to respond. No one in the Province was so trusting toward strangers that they would just hand over the key to their house like that! For all of their similarities, her world and this one certainly had their differences.

     "It's the one right over there," Gerdur said, pointing toward a nearby house. "There is something else you could do for me," she added, lowering her voice and taking a quick glance around as she did.

     Uh huh, Kylie thought. Here it comes...

     "The Jarl needs to know that there's a dragon about. Riverwood is defenseless! If you'll let him know, I'd be grateful."

     Kylie started to object, then clamped her mouth shut and nodded. Whoever this Jarl was, he was obviously an important person. And important people were usually generous with their rewards.

     Gerdur gave her directions to the nearby town of Whiterun, where the Jarl's palace was located, before turning around and heading back to the mill.

     "Well, if this Jarl lives there, Whiterun must be a decent sized town. Which means it's got at least more than a general store," Kylie murmured, thinking back to the day before. The road she had come down had a stream running alongside it, and there had been one place in particular where she'd seen salmon jumping out of the water as they tried to swim upstream. She recalled another place where she'd seen what looked like some kind of stone ruins poking out of the water near those standing stones.

     Flicking a quick glance down at the key in her hand, Kylie made her way over to Gerdur's house, and unlocked the door. After a quick look around, she caught sight of several braids of garlic hanging from one of the rafters.

     "Salmon roe, garlic..."

     A smile spread across Kylie's face. If those ruins she'd seen were a home for the one other ingredient she would need, her money problems would soon be gone.

     Taking the garlic, she stuffed it into an empty pouch that hung from the belt around her waist and went back outside.

     Within a matter of minutes, she came across the section of the stream where the water spilled down a short way. Sure enough, the salmon were still trying unsuccessfully to make their way up.

Fish eggs, fish eggs... roly-poly fish eggs...
 The Leaping Salmon is like playing Pokémon, just with better graphics.
Gotta catch 'em all, gotta catch 'em all!

     Kylie jumped into the stream and waded over to where the salmon were at. After almost a half hour of snatching, grabbing, and cursing, she managed to obtain almost a dozen salmon eggs.

     She climbed out of the stream, followed the road back to the standing stones, and then made her way down the rocks to where a hunter had set up a small camp with a tent and bonfire. Seeing the ruins she had spotted the day before a short distance away, she didn't bother to stay and talk to the hunter, who seemed friendly enough, and instead waded back into the water and swam over to where the top pillars of the ruins were poking out of the water.

     Taking a deep breath, she dove under the water. Within seconds she caught sight of what she had been hoping would be there all along: clusters of small barnacles along the stone. She gathered up almost a dozen of them, and then once more made her way back to the standing stones and down the road to Riverwood.

     As she entered the village, she saw Sven come step out of a nearby house. He gave her the same glare he had the night before in the inn, waved his hand at her in a dismissive motion as if she were an annoying fly, and with a flick of his hair he headed toward the inn.

     Kylie bit back the insult that was on the tip of her tongue and glanced at the door he had come out of. She'd seen him lock it, but that wasn't a problem. She had been a thief at one time, after all.

     In moments she was crouched by the door, studying the lock as she reached down into the top of her armor and pulled out the lockpick she had hidden there. In seconds, she heard the satisfying, almost inaudible click as she picked the lock and slipped quickly inside.

     She could have taken anything, but seeing nearly a dozen garlic cloves (some were hanging from the rafters and the others were on the table underneath, sitting on a plate), she ignored everything else and slipped them into her pouch.

     Her next stop was Faendal's house, where she found a few more braids of garlic to add to her growing collection.

     With enough of the three ingredients she needed, she headed for the inn, where she'd seen the last thing she needed: an alchemy table.

     Kylie opened the door to the inn and was met by the sound of a lute playing, while Sven's voice was raised in song. Unable to resist the temptation any longer, Kylie walked over to him.

     "Do everyone a favor and shut up, Sven," she said. "You sound like a banshee wailing."

     "How dare you compare my exquisite voice to that!" Sven exclaimed. "A banshee's wail could kill a person!"

     "So could your singing," Kylie smirked.

     Without waiting for him to respond, she made her way to the other side of the inn to the alchemy station, and then changing her mind, went behind the bar instead and grabbed the garlic she saw hanging from the rafters.

     She was on a mission. She had enough ingredients to make almost a dozen potions (assuming they wouldn't blow up in her face, as her inner voice had considered might be a possible result on this world), but Kylie wanted to solve her money problems in one shot.

     "Time to head to Whiterun," Kylie muttered. "There's bound to be plenty of places to get more garlic, and I need to go there to talk to that Jarl person, anyway."

      Leaving the inn, Kylie turned right and began following the road. Glancing up at Bleak Falls Barrow in the distance as she crossed the bridge reminded her that she'd promised to head up there, find the thieves who had stolen the claw from the general store, and get it back for the shop owner. She made a mental note to do that as soon as she came back from Whiterun.

     The road twisted and turned, gradually sloping down the further she traveled, continuing to follow the stream. Kylie saw several places along the way where the water cascaded over the rocks, creating small waterfalls that were teeming with leaping salmon. She didn't let the opportunity go to waste, and within a matter of hours she had a pouch full of salmon eggs.

     When she saw Whiterun finally appear in the distance, Kylie knew immediately it was no tiny village by the high stone wall that surrounded it. Seeing the wall caused a wave of homesickness to pass through her, as it reminded her of Silvergate - the capital city of the Province, back on her world.

     Upon reaching the outskirts, Kylie paused for a moment beside a carriage.

     "Do you need a ride somewhere?" the driver asked.

     "Home," Kylie replied longingly as another wave of homesickness passed through her.

     "I can take you to any of the holds here in Skyrim," the carriage driver offered. "Windhelm, Riften, Markarth, Solitude, Dawnstar..."

     "Thanks, but I don't think just hopping on a carriage will get me home," Kylie said, sighing heavily.

     "Well, if you change your mind, I'll be here!" the driver called out as she continued on up the road to the city.

     As she approached the city gates, a guard stepped away from his post and held up his hand.

"I tell people I used to be an adventurer, but then I took an arrow in the knee.
That's not really true, though. I used to be a knight - until I saw
a rabbit that scared me so much, I soiled my armor...
Twice."

     "City's closed with the dragon about," he stated.

     "Fine, I'll just go back to Riverwood and tell everyone there that I couldn't let the Jarl know they were worried the dragon might attack the village because you wouldn't let me into the city to talk to him," Kylie said. The guard shifted nervously from one foot to the other.

     "Riverwood's in danger, too? You'd better go on in," the guard decided and unlocked the gate for her. "You'll find the Jarl..."

     "In the big palace overlooking the city," Kylie finished for him. "I'm not stupid."

     The first thing Kylie noticed when she entered the city was a woman wearing a blacksmith's apron and a man in heavy armor standing outside a blacksmith's store.

     "We must have more swords for the Imperial Legion," the man insisted.

     "I can't fill an order that large!" the woman replied.

     "Just keep moving, Kylie," she muttered to herself and quickly walked past the two, continuing up the street toward the city's small business district. Several stalls were set up, with people calling out their wares - everything from jewelry to fresh produce. A shop on the right had a sign which read Arcadia's Cauldron. Perfect, Kylie thought, a touch of a smile appearing on her face.

     As soon as she stepped inside and walked up to the counter, the woman standing behind it looked her over with a critical eye.

     "You look rather pale... I have a potion for that," she suggested.

     "I'm fine," Kylie replied. "I just came in to see if you knew where I could get a certain ingredient I need for a potion."

     "Ahh, so you're an alchemist!" the woman replied. "I'm Arcadia. This is my shop."

     "I kind of figured that," Kylie said wryly. "I'm not really much of an alchemist, though I do know how to make one particular potion. But one of the things I need to make it isn't exactly easy to come by... I need barnacles."

     "Have you been to Dawnstar?" Arcadia inquired. "There's an old shipwreck just northeast of the town that's practically covered with them. Hela's Folly, I believe the ship was called."

     "Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out!" Kylie replied before heading back outside, recalling the carriage driver outside the city had mentioned that same town.

     "Fresh produce!" a woman behind one of the stalls in the marketplace called out as Kylie shut the door behind her and made her way through the marketplace. While she wasn't interested in getting anything to eat, the strings of garlic cloves hanging on the stall did interest her, as they were one of the other needed ingredients for the potion that Kylie suspected was going to be quite profitable.

     "How much for the... what's wrong?" Kylie asked, the question coming out before it registered in her brain.

     "I've gotten proposals from half the men in this city," the woman replied with a sigh. "Mikael is the worst of them, though. He's a bard who sings at the inn right over there."

 

"Yes, I know there's a song with lyrics that suggest boys seem to like a girl
who gets undressed before the second date. The men in this city
certainly do. I'm getting asked out left and right!"

    

 

     "Gods, what is it with bards in this world?" Kylie asked, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "Look, I'll talk to him, if you'll let me have any garlic cloves at no cost whenever you have them in stock."

     "If you think you can get that braggart to leave me alone, that's more than a fair deal! I'm Carlotta, by the way. And you are...?"

     "Kylie. Is he there right now?"

     "I don't think he ever leaves," Carlotta grumbled.

     With a curt nod, Kylie started toward the inn, and then paused as she noticed another woman in a blue dress wandering slowly around from one stall to the next. If it weren't for the way she was dressed, Kylie would have thought she was a thief casing each of the stalls, except for the fact that she was being too obvious.

     "If you're planning on stealing from any of these stalls, be more subtle about it," Kylie muttered quietly as the woman began to walk past her.

     "Why would I...? Oh no, I'm not a thief!" the woman exclaimed. "I'm only trying to learn some of their tricks! I want to have my own business some day. I even thought about buying the Bannered Mare from the current owner, but she won't even speak to me. I think the only way she'll talk to me is if I have something to impress her with, like a mammoth's tusk."

     "The Bannered Mare?"

     "Yes, the inn just behind us," the woman replied.

     "The owner sounds like a stuck up snob," Kylie commented. "If I find one, it's yours."

     As she headed over to the nearby inn, Kylie wondered why she kept getting off track and offering to help people instead of focusing on her own goals. She was supposed to be concentrating on making money, and helping people was taking time away from that!

     No, it's not, she realized. As profitable as the potions that she had in mind were, she had a limited number of the required ingredients. The potions could potentially net her plenty of gold, but she had to be able to make them. By helping others and making friends (with the exception of Sven... but he was an ass, so stealing the garlic from his house didn't count!), she was making it easier to reach her own goals.

     Opening the door to the inn, she caught sight of Mikael strumming his lute and going through some kind of warm-up routine immediately upon entering, and made her way over to him.

     "You must be Mikael," she stated. "Carlotta wants you to leave her alone."

     "She put you up to this, didn't she?" Mikael asked with a chuckle. "Sorry, but she's mine - even if she doesn't know it yet!"

     "How did I know you were going to say something like that," Kylie replied, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Fine, then let me put it this way: if you don't leave her alone, your face and my fist are going to get very well acquainted."

     "I don't have to take that from you!" Mikael exclaimed.

     Kylie gave him time to put his lute down on the floor, and then connected with a hard right hook.

     "Fight! Fight!" someone called out, seeing the two begin exchanging punches.

     Mikael got a few lucky hits in, but he was no match for Kylie, and within a matter of minutes he fell to one knee and held up a hand in defeat.
     "Okay, enough!" he begged.

     "Now, are you going to leave Carlotta alone, or do I need to kick your ass some more?" Kylie growled, keeping her fists up.

     "I'll... I'll leave her alone," Mikael promised.

     "You'd better," Kylie replied, letting the threat hang in the air for a moment longer before heading over to the bar. Noticing the large curved bone 'trophy' sitting on top of a shelf behind the bar, she walked casually around the bar, pretending to be browsing the items on the shelves, and then crouched down. The moment she was out of everyone's line of sight, she snatched the mammoth's tusk from the top of the shelf, as well as the garlic cloves hanging from the rafters, and then headed back outside.

     Seeing the woman in the blue dress still in the marketplace, Kylie walked up to her and held out the tusk.

     "You found one! This should turn that old goat's head!" the woman exclaimed. "Oh, forgive me, I never introduced myself before. My name is Ysolda. Thank you so much!"

     "You're welcome," Kylie replied, and then walked over to Carlotta's stall. "Mikael won't be bothering you again, Carlotta. He'll probably have a black eye and a swollen lip for a good week to remind him to leave you alone, too."

     "I wish I could have been there to see that!" Carlotta exclaimed, laughing with relief. "Please, take as much garlic as you'd like!" Kylie smiled and grabbed what she had hanging from the stall.

     "Arcadia's shop and the general store seem to be the only two places in the city that I can sell potions at. I don't suppose there's anywhere else in the city that will buy them, is there?" she inquired.

     "No, but everyone restocks their wares and such every two days. If you have potions to sell, you could take the carriage to Windhelm. There are two stalls right by the alchemy shop that I know buy almost anything, and of course the alchemy shop itself would certainly buy any potions you want to sell," Carlotta replied. "There's also a used goods shop on the other side of the city that will buy them, now that I think of it."

     "Really? Thanks for the tip!" Kylie replied and with a wave, began heading for the city gates. She still needed to speak to the Jarl, but her money issues had been put on hold long enough. She had plenty of salmon roe and garlic. Now to get the last item she needed - and thanks to Arcadia's advice, she knew just where to go.

     She made her way back to the carriage just outside the city, told the driver she wanted to go to Dawnstar, and hopped in the back, handing him the coin for the trip.

     The days went by quickly, and soon she was standing outside a small village far to the north where the weather was chilly, with a light snow falling. As she reached the outskirts of the city, she stopped and turned around, realizing she hadn't asked the driver to wait for her. But the carriage was nowhere in sight.

     "Oh, wonderful," Kylie grumbled. Sighing, she turned back toward the town. She'd figure out what to do later. After she found the shipwreck.

     Skirting the outer edge of the town, she kept on a northeasterly direction, stopping when she reached a point where the land gave way to the cold waters of the sea. The water was tolerable, and more importantly, it was fairly shallow where she began to swim. Within a matter of minutes, she saw the rotting timbers of a shipwreck appear in the distance that she hoped was the one Arcadia had mentioned.

     Sure enough, when she reached it she saw the faded nameplate which read Hela's Folly. She set to work right away, and with a deep breath, plunged under the water.

 

"It's not my fault! One of the passengers was sitting on the bow of the ship
having her portrait drawn while wearing nothing but a necklace!
And it was cold out!
Do you have any idea how distracting that was??"

 

 

     Arcadia wasn't kidding. Kylie had to surface several times for air, but when she had gathered every barnacle clinging to the ship's remains, she had well over thirty of them in her pouch.

     She climbed out of the water, cold and shivering... and silently thankful that the pouches she had were magical in nature, not only allowing her to carry far more than the small bags appeared to be able to hold, but just as importantly - they were waterproof.

     Seeing a fire burning nearby, Kylie walked over to it, slowing down when she saw a lizard-like creature with a human shape asleep on a small mat a few yards away, which made Kylie even more wary, as there were similar creatures on Tal'Avern called Slaath. They weren't known for being overly friendly, which kept Kylie on guard.

     As she warmed up by the fire, Kylie took a quick look around, and seeing several valuable gemstones sitting on top of a barrel, along with several more resting a small crate near the creature's head, Kylie relieved the Argonian of the gems and slipped them into her pouch. She knew they would sell for a good price, but Kylie had no intention of selling them. She already had other plans for the precious gemstones.

     "Now, how do I get back to Whiterun from here?" she muttered. With a flash, she was gone. The next thing she knew, she was standing just inside the gates of the city, near the blacksmith's shop.

     "I'll be damned!" she exclaimed, a mix of shock, amazement... and excitement rushing through her body. She still had her shadow walking ability, and didn't even need to be standing in any shadows to use it!

     She ran down the street to Arcadia's shop, nearly crashing into several people along the way in her excitement. Throwing open the door, she hurried over to the counter.

     "Can I use your alchemy table?" she asked breathlessly.

     "Of course," Arcadia replied.

     Going over to the table, Kylie took out one of each of the ingredients she needed: salmon roe, garlic, and a Nordic barnacle. Now came the moment of truth.

     "Please don't blow up in my face, please don't blow up in my face," Kylie pleaded as the potion churned, bubbled... and then turned a deep red color as the three ingredients mixed into a potion that would sell for a nice amount of gold.

     With the knowledge that the ingredients mixed properly, Kylie set about making as many as she could, making small adjustments as she went along which made the potions increasingly more powerful - and profitable.

     When she was done, Kylie thanked Arcadia for letting her use the alchemy table and stepped outside.

     "Now all I need to do is take the carriage..." With a flash she disappeared. A moment later, she was standing near the carriage outside of Whiterun. "Gods, that's awesome! I'm starting to like it here!" she exclaimed.

     "Where would you like to go?" the driver asked.

     "Windhelm," Kylie answered, handing him the coin he wanted for the trip as she sat down in the back.

     When the carriage rolled to a stop outside Windhelm, Kylie didn't even care if he left. She was flying among the clouds with the knowledge that she could travel anywhere in Skyrim that she'd already discovered.

     She spent the next several days in Windhelm. She would sell as many potions at the Alchemy shop, the two stalls just outside of it, and the used goods store on the other side of the city as the merchants could afford. Kylie even sold a few for a bit less than they were worth, because the merchants didn't have enough gold to cover the full amount.  Then she would wait around for a few days. When they'd restocked their wares (and replenished their gold) she'd make another round of sales.

     By the time Kylie had sold the last potion she had made, her money problems were at an end. And if she needed money later on, Kylie not only knew right where to go to get the ingredients to make more, but she could travel to those locations instantly.

     In the blink of an eye she was back in Whiterun. She made her way to the Bannered Mare, paid for a night's lodging, and went up to the room she'd rented on the second floor. Closing the door, Kylie fell down onto the double bed and sprawled out, feeling giddy. After a moment, she sat up and untied one of the pouches from her hip.
     "Show me the money!" she exclaimed happily, loosening the drawstring and tipping the pouch sideways. And the gold began to fall.

 

* * *

 

 

Tips in Chapter Two:
1) Ingredients for a profitable potion: Salmon Roe + Garlic + Nordic Barnacle
2) Gathering ingredients: Salmon Roe from stream; garlic from houses, inns, and stalls; great spot for barnacles at Hela's Folly. The ruins a short way from the standing stones I believe has 11, and there's also another 10 or so under the bridge up at Dragon's Reach which Kylie didn't grab, since she didn't go up there... yet. Maybe when she wakes up ;)
3) Selling potions - 4 spots in Windhelm!
4) Ysolda's request - easy way to get her that tusk!
5) Swiping gems near Hela's Folly - hold onto them for Smithing! Those DO respawn, by the way ;)