Bear Riders' Tales
Gudrun's Tale
When the Hero of Kvatch next passed by the Rider's Lodge, Timo was just leaving to go into town. "Did you speak to Gudrun?" he asked. "She was looking for you."
"What did she want?"
"She was heading into the Imperial City, and was hoping you could go with her. Could you meet her at the Waterfront?"
Timo didn't know any more than that. Nor did Magnus, the barman, and all the Riders were out on patrol. If he wanted to find out what was going on, he'd have to visit the City.
The residents of the Waterfront had seen Gudrun down on the docks near the Galleon at the Western end, talking to the crew. She was still there when he wandered down, in conversation with one of the beggars. She noticed him arriving and came over.
"Good, You're here! Now we can go look at the location for the new office." she began.
"Office?"
"Yes, Chancellor Ocato is still insisting that the Valus Mountains need more patrols. I keep telling him there aren't any trails and I can't get the riders." she replied. "He just won't listen, so I asked for an office in the city, thinking that would put him off, but it hasn't. We're here to look at a place."
WIth that, she turned and walked over to a large door next to the archway that lead through to his own small shack. She took a key from somewhere (how can there be pockets in a uniform like hers?) and unlocked the door. They went inside and Gudrun lit a torch.
There were spider webs everywhere, and broken crates and barrels littered the stairs. Picking their way through the debris, they reached a modestly-sized cellar space, just as full of trash as the way in.
And there, standing in the corner watching them, was the reason the place was unused. The ghostly figure of an Argonian lifted his eyes and gazed in their direction. "Why did I ever open that restaurant?" he asked.
"Restaurant?" they asked in return.
The ghost began to explain. He'd rented this cellar from the Imperial Trading Company for several years. He had a hunter for a partner, who would gather venison in the Great Forest, bring it into the City and store it down here. Once a week, a small boat would ferry the meat down to Leyawiin, where he would create his culinary masterpieces.
This arrangement had worked well for quite some time, each of the two doing what they did best, and making a decent profit from it. They didn't meet often, but they didn't need to.
But then it had all gone wrong. The boat arrived in Leyawiin with a cargo of rat carcasses, and no venison. He didn't know what to do!
"For a short time, I was able to serve the rat meat instead, using my heaviest sauces, and in spicy stews, but eventually the customers noticed." he told them "So I came here to wait for Jim, and find out what was going on. When he turned up, he told me he was a goblin now, and stuck a dagger in me. I bled to death here in the cellar, while he ran off. Now I can't rest until I get my revenge on Jim."
"So who was this Jim?"
"Although Jim was my partner, I never knew the rest of his name." the ghost confessed. "I heard that he came from Skingrad, so maybe you'll find out more there."
In Skingrad, nobody remembered a hunter called Jim, but one woman mentioned that Ah-Malz and Parwen at the Fighters Guild were both fond of hunting goblins. Since the Argonian had mentioned Jim saying that he was a goblin before he stabbed him, it was at least a clue. They went over to talk to them.
Neither of those two could tell them anything useful, but there they met an Imperial named Fadus Calidius, who told them about a large cave outside town called "Goblin Jim's". This was too much of a coincidence, so they asked him to point it out on the map.
It was nearly half-way to Chorrol, but this was the best lead they'd had so far. They set out straight away.
Goblin Jim's Cave had the usual pair of skirmisher guards outside, but they had to deal with a flame atronach and a bear as well before they even entered the cave door. The goblins had tribal tattoos on their arms, which made it likely that this was a major settlement, home to a whole tribe of them.
"Remind me why we're here" asked Gudrun, as she re-sharpened her claymore..
"We need Jim, because we need the Argonian to leave the cellar."
"Oh, yes, the cellar. The one I told Ocato we needed as an office. Why did I come up with that idea?"
They headed into the cave, Gudrun carrying a torch and following the Hero down the first passage.
Fortunately, the tunnels were narrow and no more than two goblins could reach them at once. Progress through the warren was slow but steady. There were traps everywhere, but the goblins themselves tripped a lot of them before they could do any harm. Pausing frequently to heal and repair, they continued downward into Whiteskin City.
The second level contained more and nastier goblins, including a war chief that took forever to take down. But still no Jim.
A side passge they'd almost overlooked led to another door marked "Pantry". This turned out to be yet another level of caves, with even more goblins. What appeared to be a house, or at least the frame and roof of one, stood on a ledge. Inside it, they saw the green swirl of an illusion spell being cast and heard a human voice. Something they couldn't see sent a fireball in their direction.
Gudrun and the Hero dodged the fireball in opposite directions, and continued to either side of where it came from. If they kept Jim between them, he couldn't attack both at once with an area spell. But where was he? Gudrun swung her long claymore in a wide arc, just hoping Jim was in range.
She didn't make contact, but he had to dodge out of the way, and couldn't fire off another attack before the chameleon effect faded. They both saw him at once and lunged. Jim shot a bolt of frost from the staff he was carrying, but chose the wrong target. Gudrun's uniform did its job, and the frost shield enchantment nullified the spell. Jim died with a puzzled look on his face.
"I didn't think I'd ever need the frost shield" said Gudrun, when she could breathe again. "Not with a desk job, and not having to ride a bear. Wrong again."
Back at the waterfront, the Argonian was pleased to hear of Jim's demise. "Now I can rest, and you can have the cellar."
He walked off as only a ghost can, through the wall.
"Where'd he go?" asked Gudrun, but she didn't wait for an answer. "Well, I know where I'm going, and that's shopping! I'll have to buy new furniture for the place, but Ocato's paying the bills, so It will be nice and comfortable when I'm done. Come back in a couple of days and see what I manage!"
For the next two days he could hear sawing and hammering whenever he passed the door, and a woman's voice giving the workmen orders. Eventually the door was unlocked and she beckoned him inside.
The place was completely transformed. A wooden counter divided the space in two, with a pair of benches on the public side for applicants to wait. A screened-off area at the back concealed a comfortable bed and storage chest, while the other corner held a table, chair and bookshelf. Candle stands in all the corners made up for the lack of windows, Legion banners hid the bare stone of the walls and there was an opulent-looking rug on the floor behind the counter.
"Cozy, isn't it?" asked Gudrun. "I won't mind living here for a while, especially with the Market District shops just across town."
He came back again a few days later and aked how recruiting was going.
"I've had a few men offer to join me, but that had nothing to do with Legion business" she replied. "But no girls. Not even unsuitable ones. There's probably no point being here all the time, so I'll come down from Bruma once a month for a few days. After all, I don't want Timo getting rusty!"
With that, she picked up a number of large bags and headed for the door. Divine Elegance's mark was printed on several of them.