Life of a Thief. Part 2

• Posted by j.sh July 11, 2013 - 924 views

  I cannot say that my life as a free man is going well. To say that it was the epitome of Oblivion would be an understatement. I tried heading to what appeared to be a local shelter, only to get frankly stopped in my tracks by a particularly rough looking lady. She seemed to disagree with my intentions to enter, and stood there shouting rudely at me. I maintained my position, not trying to provoke her. We looked eyes and I could tell that there was no reasoning with her. At that point, I tried to walk away, picking up a mountain flower on my way. I never knew that picking up a flower was a declaration of war. Needless to say, some stolen potions from the Helgen prison were very welcome after out little brawl. Of course, after I entered the house, I quickly realized that it was a mine, as well as a cozy camp for other outlaws; outlaws who did not take too kindly to me intruding.

  I headed East after that, happening upon a small quaint house, this time a real house, not a door into the side of a hill. The door was locked, but my time in Cyrodiil was not spent aimlessly. Downstairs however, I found a very rough looking man, muttering about his skooma addiction. He must have been a little fried then, because my little axe took him down surprisingly quick. I found that the house was much more than a simple fire wood vendor however. A note led me to press a button by the bookcase, leading me into a vast underground lair. Needless to say, I found out that bandits were not particularly smart, especially not to a well-placed             arrow. I will admit, from being a bit of a milk drinker, my archery at the very least had improved to the point where I could usually hit the target of my wrath, although my aim was still leaving much to be desired. One more bandit howled at me as my arrow meant for his head struck right between the legs. Oops.

  I soon came to regret my previous statement about bandit intelligence however. It appeared that the leader of this group had built an extensive treasure room, complete with crude alarms and very deadly traps. Needless to say, no one can keep Matthias out. I could feel the effects of the Thief Stone. My muscles seemed to learn just that much quicker. Truly amazing magic.

  I had found a secret exit after the treasure room and exited quickly. By then the need to sleep had become quite consuming. I journeyed on, heading south into the mountains, a rather poor choice as it were. A large ruined tower caught my eye, a tower whose unguarded chest fell swiftly to my lockpicks. A hunting bow lay in the opened chest, brisling with a tingling power. I of course took it without a second thought. Filled with confidence, I then plunged into the depths of this mildly creepy tower. Boy, do I regret that.

  Vampires where everywhere. The filthy blood suckers reacted quickly to the disturbance to their quiet home. That bow no doubt saved my life. Every shot left the arrow brisling with an energy that cackled over the targets body. My trust axe saved my life as well, holding out against the weapons and armour of the fiends. I had acquired a studded suit of armour from my previous encounter, and the iron and leather made all the difference from the smooth mage robes. I should have run after the first attack, but I continued, filled with a bloodlust of my own. In the end, I met a demon who was once a man, the leader of these vampires. He should have killed me.

  Unfortunately for him, he seemed to have accidently locked himself in a crude, icy arena. Dead bodies littered the ground around him, no doubt his feast. I spotted the chain to release the gate, allowing me to attack him man to man. The chain remained untouched. I fired arrow after arrow at the beast. Some hit the iron bars, but some made it through. That fiend was some sort of necromancer, and soon the dead bodies also clawed at the bars, eager to devour me, but I just kept on shooting. Finally, the bodies crumpled into dust and the vampire fell to his knees. I drew one last arrow and send it directly into his black heart.

  After triple checking that there were not any fanged minions elsewhere, I settled down for a very uneasy sleep, waking at every single noise in the frigid dungeon. I will admit, I was quite terrified, and left there immediately after I felt rested enough to continue walking. I continued south along the mountains until I discovered a small shack, one containing a woman who did not immediately try to kill me.

  “Take one step closer and you’ll find this arrow in your eye!” Matthias jerked away from the door to the house, turning to find a blonde woman by the fire, bow pulled taut. He immediately raised his hands meekly. This was not going as well as he thought it would. He hadn’t even noticed the woman between the glow of the fire and the swirling snow. Looking down, he realized he must have looked like quite the villain in his bandit armour and his fresh wounds.

  “Don’t shoot, please.” He tried to keep his voice level.

  “Just who do you think you are? Waltzing in here like you own place! Why are you here? Did the Imperials send you?

  Matthias swallowed loudly. “I’m sorry; I thought the place was abandoned.” Lie one, he had seen the fire, desperately needing some warmth, and had not cared who he would have to kill to find a warm spot to sleep.

  “Liar, they sent you didn’t they? I’m not going to just give myself up! Those soldiers got what they deserved. If I could, I would kill them again!” Matthias could see the bow trembling in the woman’s hands.

  “Lady, I honestly don’t know what you are talking about. My name his Matthias, I was just looking for a place to sleep. Honestly.”

  Her eyes narrowed, but she seemed a little less on the edge. “That’s a pretty weak story. Why would you be looking for a place here? Falkreath and Helgen aren’t too far away.” There was a definite hint of suspicion in her voice now.

  “I’m am not a native to Skyrim. I honestly do not know where Falkreath is, and Helgen is sort of… you know.”

  “Sort of what? Not good enough for you, fancy boy? I will tell you right now that there more than enough-”

  “Sort of destroyed.” He cut her off of her rant. Her eyes went rather big at that.

  Shunk! An arrow slammed into his unprotected left shoulder. He let out a little yelp, yet was acutely aware that the arrow had done much less damage than it should have.

  “Liar! You tell me right now what on Oblivion you mean by sort of destroyed!” She took a quick step forward, another arrow already notched and ready to shoot.

  “Stop! Just stop and wait a second!” Matthias pushed himself against the wood of the house, his eyes darting for a way to escape.  The woman gave a snarl and let loose the arrow.

  It hit wood. Matthias had quickly thrown himself to the side, grabbing the door frame and pushing himself off it into the house. He heard muffled curses and he stumbled into a humble bedroom and pulled the arrow out of his shoulder. He noticed the wooden sharpened tip, not even an iron arrowhead on it. There was a dresser in the room and he yanked a drawer out, holding it in his uninjured right hand, his left hand fumbling for a dagger. The woman let out a war cry, her footprints hitting the wood inside. Matthias took a deep breath before darting out of the small bedroom.

  She was ready for him, her bow pulled back and ready. But he was also ready for her. The arrow collided with the makeshift shield in his right hand, striking the wood, but not piercing it. Matthias quickly slammed into the woman, forcing her to the ground. He pinned her, holding his steel dagger up to her throat. She spat at him defiantly. “Make I quick you bastard, do the Imperial’s dirty work.”

  “I’m not here to bloody kill you!” Matthias yelled out furiously. He tried to stay calm, but the lack of sleep and the shoulder wound were heavily weighing on his patience. He paused to breath, lifting the dagger from her neck. She also paused before slamming something into his side. An intense pain shot through him, it was a dagger, no, his dagger! The one he kept in his boot. She pushed him off enough to land a solid knee to his manhood. That hurt, even with the extra armour. He rolled off, holding himself in pain. The dagger remained firmly in his side, but that didn’t stop the woman. She charged him with her bare hands, now like claws. Matthias tried to hold her off with his left hand, his right reaching for his discarded dresser drawer. Yes, his fingers curled around the handle. With a quick swing, he smashed it across the woman’s face.

  She fell back, breathing heavily. With a groan, Matthias managed to pull himself into a sitting position. The dagger wound was now bleeding heavily, along with the arrow wound and the scratches to his face and arm. A thin trickle of blood ran down the woman’s side of her face, dropping little droplets off her ear. For a few very long seconds it was quiet, both parties trying to catch their breath. The adrenaline seemed to have worn off of her as she seemed to be leaning rather hard against the other wall of the house. Come to think of it, it was wearing off of Matthias as well. With yet another groan, he yanked the dagger out of his side, gasping at the pain.

  “What do you mean, Helgen was destroyed.” The woman seemed to have caught her breath.

  “I don’t know” Matthias answered honestly. “There was fire everywhere. I don’t honestly know what happened.”

  “Surely you must have known something. You were outside, were you not? You must have seen something. Soldiers invading, rogue mages, anything at all?”

  “I wasn’t outside; I was in Helgen’s prison. I saw several Stormcloaks, but they seemed to be prisoners that had escaped an execution. They looked just as scared as me. I honestly barely made it out alive, escaping with an Imperial named Hadvar through an underground tunnel filled with spiders.”

  Her whole face seemed to change, like she was remembering something from her past. The murderous look faded a bit, becoming something close to pretty. “Yes those tunnels are rather nasty.” She jumped a bit as Matthias reached into his pack, pulling out a bottle of red liquid. He poured some on a rag, holding it on his wounded side. He took a small sip before corking it and sliding it to the woman. She looked rather surprised.

  “For your head.” Matthias gestured at her. She reached tenderly to her head, recoiling after touching it. She seemed surprised to find blood on her hands. A bit of the potion went on a strip of fabric that she tore off her dress. Matthias finally got a good look at her. There were dark shadows under her eyes, and the dress was faded and worn. Other than that, she looked like a young woman, no older than him. Not that bad looking either-

  “My name is Angi.” She said catching his eye. He looked away quickly, slightly blushing. When he looked back, she had a tinged of red on her face as well. There was an awkward pause before she remembered that he had already told her his name. “I guess I already know your name.” she admitted shyly.

  That brought a small laugh from Matthias. “That you do.” He struggled to his feet slowly. She had also cautiously stood up. He extended an open arm. “A pleasure to meet you.”

  She shook his hand lightly, still rather caution. “So you were in prison eh?” She asked.

   Matthias shuddered, that was not a particularly good way to start a conversation. “Yes, and before you ask, it was just for some simple thieving. You are not standing in from of a murderer or anything.”

  That took the soft smile off her face. “There are times that murders are justified.” She spat out quickly, venom in her voice. There was a pause before she continued. “I’m… sorry, it just came out.”

  She sat down on a chair, clearly distracted by something. Matthias just stayed quiet, waiting for her to go on. “I-I lived in Helgen once.” There was a faint loneliness in her voice. “My parents were killed by a pair of drunken Imperials who thought they were above the law. After that, I couldn’t stand living there; I couldn’t take the people and their pity that they would always offer. It just got to me.”

  Matthias stood there quiet, unsure whether to offer apologies for her parents death or not. Instead he offered “Do you want someone to take care of those soldiers?”

  She smiled a smile that was anything but warm. “No. Thank you for offering, but they have already been taken care of. Part of the reason I’m up here actually.

  The rest of the evening was spent cleaning up the house from the brawl and small talk. Angi admitted that she didn’t have any food to spare, but luckily Matthias had picked up some from his brief stint as a dungeon raider. It was from the bandit’s lair, Matthias had been too afraid to take any of the meat from the vampire’s lair.

  A quiet meal followed before Matthias asked about the strange posts he had seen outside. She smiled and explained that they were targets for archery. When asked about his skill in the bow, Matthias calmly replied that even Hircine would be jealous, with a small wink. That brought another laugh out of her. She truly had a beautiful laugh, one that seemed to erase all of the worry from her face.

  Despite his rather boastful claim, Angi still offered to take him out shooting. He replied “I would love to, but I have been going on far too little sleep as of recent. With that, they said good night, Angi retiring to her little bed, and Matthias curled up on a few wolf pelts in the corner of the house. The house wasn’t much warmer than the vampire’s den, but at least it was safer. Matthias slept like a baby.

  ***

   

  Now here comes the rant….

  AWWWW ANGI YOU ARE SO ADORABLE!

  For those that don’t know, Angi lives in a small camp in the southern mountains, between Helgen and Falkreath. She is a real person in the game who is supposedly on the run after killing two imperials. I personally think she is awesome. She is very much a normal person, more like a hunter than a simple NPC but she finds herself in a situation where she has to survive. When you get to her camp, you can have a little chat with her and she will offer to train you in archery, FOR FREE! Better yet, the task is simply hitting targets, and by the end with net you a full 6 POINTS INTO YOU’RE ARCHERY. This means you could find the Woodelf in Riverwood, train your archery up using him, then make him a follower and get your cash back, and then you could talk to Angi and raise your archery six whole levels. If you are at level 94 in archery, this takes a lot less time than working for the last 6 levels!

  Now, mind you, the training can get very hard for the last archery point. Eagle eye is suggested, but not required. (I beat it without, but it took a lot of work and tries.) Even with that, it is still 5 easy skill points. Finding Angi can be a bit of a pain as well. The first time I was forced to use the internet to assist. I will brag to you this though, on this play through I found it without help, simply by bumbling around (part of the reason I accidently ended up in a vampire lair.)

  As it is, I really enjoy finding enchanted weapons. This guy will do minimal smithing and enchanting, so finding enchanted weapons will be his bread and butter. I will also add to the fact that Miss Angi uses arrows without arrow heads. These so called training arrows are the only weapon in Skyrim that do zero damage. Yes, even the fork and knife you can obtain do more than it. The fact remains, that if you shoot one of these arrows, it will still do the bow damage, it will just not have any additional damage. The weakest arrow I believe is a forsworn arrow, and even that has an arrowhead of sorts, so I can only image that these training arrows are just sharpened twigs, homemade arrows that can be made without using a forge or any sort of metal. A true survival tool. I harvested about 300 of these little guys for future use, they make a great non-lethal weapon when combined with any of the following: Fear poison, frenzy poison, or paralysis poison. These will be very useful later in Matthias’s thieving career, especially the paralysis poison. I do regret that as of yet, I have yet to actually steal much. I intend to raise Hell in Falkreath, but this episode of meeting Angi took a lot longer than I expected. Don’t worry, I will finally get back to thieving, I don’t want this build to turn into a stereotypical adventurer hero, it sort of goes against ol’ Matthias’s character. The thieving will come! Patience my friend, this adventure is just getting started.

  P.s. Would you, the readers, like to see some screenshots as the adventure continues? On one hand, it lets me show you actual events that happen, but it might also break the semi realism of the story. Let me know.

  Joshua the Kelptomaniac