The Dockworker 27: Ghosts n' Stuff

• Posted by Clement Bilhorn July 8, 2012 - 562 views

  I'm ready to head back to Riften, thinking it's all over--the jerk's dead, Brynjolf's made me the leader of the Thieves' Guild, and I'm carrying more loot than I care to deal with, especially with the sun sapping my strength. 

  

  While passing through Anga's Mill yet once again, I reflect on this last leg of my journey. Apparently I have to go to some place southwest of Falkreath and return Nocturnal's "key", a funny-looking lockpick I picked off Mercer's body. I suppose I can do that.

  But I'm not just going to rush off there. I need to take a break from all the fighting, do some business, maybe forge some new arrows. So with the sun going down, I do some work, relishing the feeling of sunlight on my skin without it setting me on fire. At this angle, it's just a light tingle--I'd forgotten what warmth felt like.

  

  I take a carriage over to Markarth first to collect payment from my target, seeing as how I'll be visiting the Brotherhood again on my way down to see Nocturnal. 

  There's nothing like bringing a smile to a young woman's face by killing her lover and the girl he slept with. I'm lucky to have such fulfilling work.

  

  I then head back to Whiterun to do some quick errands, selling off all the stuff I picked up spelunking near Windhelm. I also check in with Farengar and have him teach me a clairvoyance spell. It's a light spell, simple enough for me to use, even in daylight. Should keep me from getting lost in the future.

  Then again, I'm pretty good at getting lost. I don't know if my magic is up for it.

  

  Upon visiting the Brotherhood, I realize that one cannot be part of a cult and expect to avoid doing any weird stuff. And Astrid's request is, well, pretty weird.

  

  I understand the need for some good spying, especially on a freak like Cicero, but isn't this pushing it? I don't know what can be more disturbing than being locked in an iron coffin with a thousand-year-old mummy.

  

  Being locked in an iron coffin with a thousand-year-old talking mummy, of course. Silly me.

  Suffice to say, I seem to have attracted the attention of another freaky monster-thing, When Cicero starts yelling and Astrid comes in to see what the commotion is, I take a seat in the back. I need some serious personal space after that.

  

  The whole thing with the Brotherhood leaves me more than a little leery of supernatural interactions--I think I'll need to wait a bit longer before I head to Nocturnal's sanctuary. So I swing by the lakeside cabin up north to kill my next Brotherhood target.

  Hearing that Hern is a vampire has me intrigued. As a vampire myself, I'm curious to see just how a vampire (and his girlfriend) can adjust to life in Skyrim, integrating themselves so smoothly that no one even notices. I chat with them for a bit to see what I can learn.

  

  Hern and his girlfriend are both a bit hostile, though, though due in more part to my being suspicious than their being vampires, I suspect. So I cut the act and do what I came to do.

  

  As I'm sometimes wont to do, I'm reflective after the kill. These two may have been like me, once--ordinary souls stricken with vampirism, trying to have a normal life in a world hostile to their kind. They'd made a nice living on the side of a beautiful lake. They raised chickens!

  And I just killed them both. Is this what fate awaits me? Whatever happens, will my last days be at my property by the falls? Will I die in my home, ambushed by some hired thug in revenge for some act I may have committed decades ago? 

  

  Maybe I should give more thought to my future after I finish this business with Nocturnal.

  Returning Nocturnal's key is a more involved process than I thought. Apparently there are numerous trials I must go through, of varying sorts. The first is easy enough--just kill some dead people. I've done that before.

  

  The second is a bit subtler--I have to navigate a shadowy-path, avoiding some deadly light sources. The metaphor is painfully obvious, but the danger is very real.

  

  

  I come across a statue of a stunning figure whom I take to be Nocturnal. I suppose this must be the third trial--I can easily see the hidden door behind the statue, but I have no idea how to open it. 

  

  Confused, I peruse the diary I picked up earlier from a slain initiate. The relevant clue--"Offer what She desires most, but reject the material. For her greatest want is that which cannot be seen, heard, or carried"--has me greatly perplexed. I suspect I'm supposed to provide darkness or something, but I can't imagine how. 
  

  After about two hours of thinking it over, I become seriously worried that I might be trapped in this tomb for the foreseeable future--the clue said "reject the material", and I already looted the coffers and chests by the statue. I can't remember exactly what I took, and dumping my entire stash at the statue's feet does nothing.

  Bordering on despair, I pick up my stuff. That's when I notice the chains hanging behind the torches. Feeling very stupid, I pull them both and continue through the tomb. 

  The fourth trial is easy--dodging traps is nothing new for me--and the fifth trial is painfully simple: jump to the bottom of a pit with no escape, all on faith.

  

  It sounded more inspiring when I was at the top. Now I'm starting to worry again...

  Then the floor melts away and I fall a bit farther.

  

   Much better. Seeing a keyhole, I do the only thing that makes sense and stick the key in it.

  

  And then I get to see Nocturnal, for real this time. In the flesh. She looks almost as good as the statue. Our conversation is brief, though--she thanks for me for my work in the brusque manner I've come to expect of everyone in Skyrim, even the daedra, offering in exchange a supernatural gift of some sort.

  I make my choice and leave.

  Back outside, I take a deep breath. Okay...now I'm done.