This Woman of Ice - Chapter Three:

• Posted by J'huzho March 21, 2017 - Filed in TSC: CB Story - 1,111 views

  Upon arriving at Whiterun Eroteme came across a conundrum of sorts, she wanted entrance into the city but it had been closed off due to general panic aroused by the news of the dragon coming up from the south. She was never the kind of adventurer to try to bribe or intimidate her way into somewhere she wasn’t wanted, that kind of thing can get far messier than it ever needs to be so with a cool expression across her face (what else?) she simply said “I have news from Helgen about the Dragon attack” and was granted entrance to the city.

   

  Cities are great places for collecting information about the greater world around them, it was the court wizard Farengar who referred her to the college of Winterhold for formal training in the arcane arts, because as of yet she had none but that she had obtained from various magical tomes that she had collected. But there are also merchants and barkeeps and local gossips; Eroteme picked up a bounty for the bandit chief of Valtheim Tower, she would have needed the money no doubt, the Imperials would have taken all she had before putting her head on the block and magical paraphernalia doesn’t come cheap.

   

  I once met an Argonian who claimed to have successfully mugged “the great ice-bitch!” somewhere near Whiterun around that time, before she came into her power. Whether it happened or not it doesn’t do anything to dent my fear and respect for her, if anything it shows how she could calmly assess her situation and react without ego or recklessness – that’s a rarity in an adventurer such as she was.

   

  Her business with Farengar introduced her to the Jarl who requested that she elaborate on the news she claimed to have from Helgen, about the dragon attack. She confirmed that she was there, she saw the dragon with her own eyes, it razed the village to the ground and killed countless people, there can’t have been many survivors. The Jarl sent a detachment of the Whiterun guard to Riverwood at once, it was in the most immediate danger should the dragon decide to attack again.

   

  Balgruuf was impressed with Eroteme’s survivability against a dragon and apparent eagerness to assist against further attacks so he asked for her help in aiding his court wizard who was researching the dragons and had a task for a capable adventurer with a mind for dungeon delving. Though I doubt it was truly out of a willingness to help her fellow man, given what we know about her, something however compelled her to take Farengar’s offer, fate perhaps? Or simply boredom? The promise of reward can't have done any harm. We may never know the full story, but she set out for Bleak Falls Barrow the next morning to retrieve the ancient Dragonstone.