“Oh there once was a hero named Ragnar the red, who came riding to Whiterun from old Rorikstead…”
The whaling moan of the dreadful Dunmer bard could be heard from outside Candlehearth Hall. On the snowy, dark streets of Windhelm a beggar danced drunkenly around a fire trying to drown the memory of a scar in his chest; given to him during the Great War, with cold mead and ale. Two Nord sailors noisily crunched through the Stone quarter, one of them had shoulder length blonde hair and a shaggy beard, he was dressed in a white linen top stained with drops of mead and hardy brown leather trouser pulled tight at the waist with a silk blue sash whilst the other sported a fine grey jacket fastened loosely below his long black beard and short hair. The two men laughed at an unheard joke as they slowly climbed the steps towards the inn, the blonde sailor clumsily pressed a large coin purse into the beggars hand whilst smiling lazily at him, “Seden!” The other sailor belched, “that was our money for drinks tonight what are you doing.”
“Unlike you ‘Captain’ Bormir Lonely-Gail I still sail my ship so I have plenty more money where that came from.” The blonde Nord teased whilst tugging on his royal blue sash and displaying two more coin purses.
“Thank you Captain.” The beggar coughed whilst quickly tying the coin purse to his belt.
The two sailors clambered onwards to the noisy inn before drunkenly knocking open the door.
The inn was fairly basic downstairs, a dirty counter sat in the corner with several guests gathered round gulping down ale and attempting to woo the nearby women, a local whore from Riften lead a drunken Nord in Stormcloak furs down the corridor at the back where guests could rent rooms, in the right corner a set of dull wooden stairs led up to the second floor; the main part of the inn. As the two sailors entered women flocked to them immediately, Seden had a beautiful girl in either arm before he’d taken two steps into the inn however Captain Lonely-Gail dismissed the attention, he was still in mourning over the loss of his wife. Lonely-Gail strolled over to the bar and spilled one of Seden’s coin purses across the counter, “The finest mead you have please, for me and the Capt-” He said looking to his friend, but as he turned he saw Seden merrily hopping up the stairs his arm around one of the women’s waist whilst the other caressed him affectionately tugging on his white sleeve and drawing him up the stairs.
Bormir sat at the bar gulping down the sweet honey flavour of mead mixed with juniper berries; he held Seden’s warm bottle tightly in his palm; slowly swirling the golden liquid inside around and closely watching the mystic patterns it formed. It was always the same thing with Captain Seden, he’d arrived at Windhelm nearly 30 years prior; Bormir had found him lay on the icy streets on deaths door with a bloody hole in his stomach, after being healed he’d told Lonely-Gail his story and a full diagnostic confirmed he’d suffered the effects of Sanguinare Vampiris. It had taken a few weeks for him to get use to the fact he was now a vampire but after that he started to see the good side of it; Bormir stuck at his side despite knowing his monstrous curse and invited him aboard his ship as he knew Seden once was a captain, the two of them sailed the seas for years acting as privateers for both the Imperials and the Stormcloacks and even occasionally acting as pirates, that all stopped with the death of Bormir’s wife and family, Lonely-Gail retired to Windhelm and gave his ship to Seden; this meant the blonde Nord was now at sea most the time but when he was on land he spent his time with Bormir drinking at the inn and waking up with a different women each morning.
. . .
Seden tripped at the stairs crashing to the old, wooden floor boards and causing a mighty eruption of laughter from the mass of citizens on the bustling second floor, the two women helped him to his feet and he displayed an ear to ear smile to those laughing. The upper floor was much busier; a dozen people sat at tables behind the stairs and twice that danced and drunk around the large, stone fire illuminating orange glow in the centre of the room. The Dunmer bard played her lute in the corner of the room and was receiving much attention from another grey-skinned elf that held her waist loosely and looked longingly into her red, volcanic eyes, as the two women led Seden towards the hearth he cheekily pinched one of them on the bum much to the approval of those who saw. The women put on a stern face and pushed him down onto a nearby chair before leaping onto his lap, the second women moved behind him and began to massage his shoulders as he picked up a nearby bottle of ale and downed it in one. Those nearby moved closer to him and he began to tell exciting tales of his many dangerous exploits at sea, more people began to flock to his side giving him drink after drink, a normal man would have passed out from the alcohol but Seden was a vampire and it took a lot to get him drunk.
Seden was in the middle of describing a deadly battle against a Thalmor armada before he was interrupted.
“You’re all talk ‘Captain’,” A topless Nord sporting many Stormcloak tattoos yelled jealously, “You sea lovers couldn’t take on a real Nord without your precise ship!”
Seden cast a glance at the rowdy Nord before displaying an expression to show he wasn’t impressed. “Is that a challenge sir?” He laughed.
“And what if it is, let’s see who’s getting the attention when you’re on your back!” He roared slapping his bare chest whilst displaying his muscles to those at Seden’s side. Seden lifted the women on his lap by her bum and placed her down next to him, “I’ll be back for you later.” He winked, as he turned to face his challenger he felt the hard force of a fist crack into the side of his face opening up a small cut. Before the attacker could get in another hit Seden moved with lightning speed slapping him hard in his abdominal muscles causing him to bend over wheezing for air before bringing his knee up to meet the challengers face with incredible strength sending him crashing onto the floor. Seden turned and saw the awe-struck onlookers gazing upon him, he went back to his seat, “Where was I?” he said jokingly, “Oh yes you and you.” He pointed at the two girls who had accompanied him earlier and scooped them off their feet leading them off to a room he’d booked earlier that day.
Seden knew he’d drunk a lot last night because he awoke with a splitting headache. The room around him was blurred but he could make out the basic outline of several mead bottles on the floor, his clothes lay in a crumpled pile in the corner and he felt the warm breath of a women on his left breast, she was completely naked and cuddled up to his side her hand involuntarily stroking the large scar in the centre of his chest, The other women suckled on his neck whilst playfully flirting with the waist band on his leather trousers both of them had small cuts on their bodies where Seden had fed off them as they slept. It wasn’t often Seden got a hangover but when he did it was always bad; he could almost compare this to a morning thirty years prior, thinking about that morning brought back sad memory’s as he remembered his old friend Shawk, remembered seeing the vampire cut his face open with a dagger whilst Seden lay helplessly bleeding on the ice, Duncan had saved Seden from bleeding out even after losing his own arm to the remaining vampires but Seden didn’t remember anything else, just Duncan grabbing him off the ice and then… Darkness.
Seden blinked away the memories before sliding out of bed; much to the protests of the two women. He lifted his white shirt and pulled it over his head and tied the blue sash around his waist and tucking in his remaining coin purse and a small knife, he then slipped into a pair of brown boots and tied the many straps at the back of the shoes before planting a kiss on each of the women and creaking open the door to his room.
The inn was oddly quiet in comparison to the night before, a couple of the older citizens of Windhelm sat eating at the bar and the same Dunmer bard from the night before was now tiredly playing her lute, dark rings around either eye. Seden crashed into a nearby stool and beckoned the inn keeper over, “Some cooked beef and a sweet roll please fine lady.” Seden smiled at the inn keeper, she wasn’t particularly attractive but Seden was naturally friendly.
“Your famous charisma and charm won’t work on me captain oh and a word of warning Susanna may have spent the night with you but it was only for tips.” She said sternly whilst eying the Dunmer bard suspiciously.
The inn keeper went behind the counter and came up with an iron plate with a slab of cooked beef in the centre and a squashed sweet roll on the side. Seden picked up the beef and eyed it wearingly; it was tiny and nowhere near big enough to fill him up but he was too tired to complain, he finished the beef in less than a minute, using his razor sharp nails to remove the stringy meat from between his pointed teeth, he then moved onto the flat sweet roll scooping it up into his hand and taking a bite from the fluffy pastry, he savored the taste of the cream spread across the pastry, as a vampire most foods tasted like ash and forced him to throw them back up but he’d found sweet rolls and beef to be the only foods he could taste and swallow, cleaning the iron plate he sprinkled a handful of golden coins onto the flat piece of metal before placing it down on the counter. Rising slowly from his stool he moved towards the door and carefully creaked it open, the magical rays of the sun shone brightly into the inn blinding him momentarily but as usual it didn’t cause any discomfort, his vampiric body had adapted to the dangers of the sun and he was now mostly immune to its effect, he was weaker still but it wouldn’t hurt him, brushing his hair over his ears he defiantly stepped out of the inn and into Windhelm.
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