//------------------------------// // Chapter 22: The City of Stormcloud // Story: The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM // by FireOfTheNorth //------------------------------// Chapter XXII: The City of Stormcloud “When I grow up, I’m gonna be an assassin!” After resting up for a few hours in Splitten, I left for Windhorn, following a path that kept close to the mountain range separating Horizon from Unicornica. Soon I was in the capital of Jarl Stormcloud’s rebellion. The Inquisitor was still docked in the harbor as I approached, though it now flew the flag of the Stormclouds. The guards gave me suspicious looks as I entered, but none stopped me, so I guess they may have remembered me from the last time. Of course, then I was led through the city under guard. As I wandered the stone streets, I realized I had no idea where Cloverdust was in this town. Surely word of his return had spread though, right? The first few ponies I asked seemed unwilling to talk about it, despite my prodding. I received several warnings that a unicorn shouldn’t be so curious in this city. Eventually, I found myself in a poorer part of town where the buildings stood immediately next to each other, and loomed over the poorly-lit streets. In the center of the district was a small, cramped square dominated by a towering statue of an earth pony wielding a battleaxe against a cowering dappled pegasus. “Jurgen Sky-whinny, Hero of the Morrowhinny Invasion” the inscription read. Nopony seemed to be around, but a shop nearby was open, so I entered to get directions. “What business brings you here?” the shopkeeper, an elderly dappled pegasus asked grouchily as I entered. “Do you always greet ponies like that when they enter your shop?” I asked. “Only strangers,” he answered, “Nopony comes to the Winged Quarter by chance.” “The Winged Quarter?” “These slums. This is where my people must live, as decreed by Jarl Stormcloud. But, what can we do when not even our own kin are willing to welcome us to the Featherrest Isles?” “That’s terrible!” I said. I had no idea that Jarl Stormcloud’s racist policies went as far as isolating an entire race in the slums. “We’ll get by,” he replied, “We survived Red Mountain, we’ll survive this. So, what brings you here, unicorn.” “I’m looking for the home of Cloverdust,” I told him. “Ah, yes, that little lad who’s family died in that horrible fire,” he recalled, “I heard tell he’d returned, but I didn’t know if I could believe it or not.” “So . . .” I prompted him for a location. “Oh, right. The house is just up the road through the north passage out of the district. It’ll be the first one you see, top of the hill. You can’t miss it.” “Thanks,” I said, waving to the kindly old pegasus before departing his shop. I took another look at the statue before moving on. Obviously it was a reminder of who was in charge in this city. I sure hoped things would get better for the ponies here. I winged a silent prayer for it to the Equines before moving on. Sure enough, just as the shopkeeper had told me, I couldn’t miss Cloverdust’s house. Immediately after the “No Pegasi Beyond This Point” signs was a towering home of dark black stone. The wind whistled eerily through the windows, whose glass was gone. Scorch marks bore testament to the fire that had killed the foal’s parents. It was like approaching a ghost house as I trotted up. Any moment I expected some spook to jump out at me. At last I found the door, but it was locked. Before I tried picking it, I read the note nailed into the singed wood. This property and all its premises are hereby restricted due to the practice of the Black Sacrament within these walls. Any trespassers will be subject to questioning and interrogation if necessary. -Vigilants of Steedarr, Horizon Division I’d heard of the Vigilants of Steedarr, but only briefly. They were a fairly new organization, devoted to the Equine Steedarr. Their purpose, as best I understood it, was to stamp out Draconequus worship, vampires, werewolves, and anything else they considered unnatural and unholy. Cloverdust, or at least somepony, had done something here that violated that. Cloverdust surely wasn’t here anymore, if he ever really was. To find him, I’d need some help tracking him down. Maybe he was somewhere else in Windhorn. I knew one pony who would know for sure, though I was hesitant to approach him. Working up my courage, I approached the top of the hill and the Palace of Kings. If anypony would know what was going on in this city, it would be its Jarl. Surprisingly, nopony stopped me as I approached Stormcloud’s throne, though the nearby guards tensed, ready to jump into action. “Jarl Stormcloud,” I addressed him first, bowing. “So, you have returned,” the Jarl replied, “Sapphire, was it? Decide to join up with the Stormclouds?” “Not today,” I told him, “I actually came to ask for your help.” “Help in what?” he asked, perplexed. “I need help locating Cloverdust. I heard he had returned here.” “And he did. But he was taken away by the Vigilants of Steedarr only yesterday.” “Where?” “To the Hall of the Vigilant, I presume.” “Where is that?” I asked him. “I’ll tell you,” he said, and I could see a plan forming in his mind, “But first you must do something for me.” “What do you need?” I asked. No matter what, I would do it if it helped me save Steadfast. “Dawnstar is in Imperial hooves,” he said matter-of-factly, “They will try for Winterhorn next. And, once it falls, Earthhaven will be completely defenseless.” “Earthhaven?” I asked. “Yes, my city,” he gestured around him, “Though you probably know it as Windhorn. What most don’t know is that this city was once called Earthhaven, until a unicorn invasion millennia ago. The conquerors saw fit to rename it after themselves, and their name remained even after it was taken back. But now Horizon will be free, and its ancient capital will be known by its proper name.” “All right,” I said, thinking he was taking this a bit far, “So you were saying?” “We need another line of defense, and I believe Fort Trotsdown will be the perfect place to station my soldiers. Built south of Winterhorn, it provides a defense that overlooks the route the Imperials will surely take to reach this city. However, the fort has been abandoned for years and has become inhabited with bandits. Clear them out for me, and I’ll share the location of the Hall of the Vigilant with you.” I didn’t see as I had much choice. But, at least this task wasn’t too difficult. Clearing out bandits was better than leading an attack on a city, in any case. “I accept,” I told the Jarl. ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ As I neared Fort Trotsdown, I could see why Jarl Stormcloud wanted it. Just as he had said, it looked right over the path, providing its defenders with a view for leagues and an ability to stop anypony passing through. I had to stop for a moment and puzzle out how to get up to the fort, which was built into the mountain’s face, before I realized the only entrance was up top. I would be forced to climb a long, looping path up the nearby foothills to reach the gate. As I climbed, it seemed to me that the fort was abandoned. I saw no sign of bandit activity whatsoever. Could Jarl Stormcloud have been wrong? I pulled out my bow as I neared the fort anyway, just in case. It proved to be a good idea, as an arrow suddenly flew past me, sticking between the rough stones of the path. Drawing an arrow off my own back, I searched the fort for the source, but saw nothing. Another arrow suddenly came flying at me from a slit in one of the fort’s towers. There was no way I could shoot somepony through one of those, so I dropped my bow and sprinted toward the fort. The large wooden gates were open and I ran between them, passing the fort’s walls. Inside, I found two bandits trying to ambush me, one from each side. I sent a blast of flame at one, forcing him to back off, and drew Calcion’s Cleaver to fight the other. Sparks flew as our blades met, sword to sword. She pulled away and swept her sword down toward my legs. I countered, twisting her blade and forcing her back. I swung my sword around at her head, but she blocked. My blade went off course and flew upward, nicking her ear. Swinging her blade at me, she pushed me back. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught her companion charging toward me and stopped him with a quick buck. As he went flying back, I used the momentum of pushing off his chest to propel me forward. The mare I was fighting was unable to block my charge, and I broke through, sweeping my sword through her chest. I turned to see her companion preparing to charge me again, his warhammer held in a magical grasp. I brought Calcion’s Cleaver up to block the majority of the swing’s force, but I was still pushed back a little. Pulling out the Axe of Whitetrot, I was able to get a swing at his body while still blocking with my sword. He pulled back, putting a bit of distance between us and preparing his warhammer for another strike. This time I was ready for it, blocking and notching my sword under his hammer’s head to keep him from bringing it down and farther. Simultaneously, I swung my war axe around in a wide loop, cutting it through his neck, cauterizing the wound instantly as the blade burst into flame. As he fell to the ground, three more bandits emerged from the fort’s keep, apparently alerted that a battle was going on outside. Three were just too many for all at once, so I decided to thin them out a bit. <<>> All three of the bandits went flying back, one knocking against a fence. As the first to recover galloped toward me, knife in teeth, I shot a blast of lightning into him, sending him flying back and into a wall, never to get up again. By then, an earth pony mare had also recovered, and was rushing me with a war axe grasped in her mouth. I blocked with my own, and we engaged in a deadly ballet of blades. She was incredible skilled with her weapon, and it served her well, keeping me on my hooves as I struggled to block. Our blades suddenly locked as they hooked beneath each other. She had the faster reflexes, and the advantage of being physically attached to her weapon, and she threw mine out of my magical grasp with a twist of her head. As she did, however, she opened herself up to an attack from my sword, which came down swiftly and heavily on her neck. As she fell to the ground, the bandit I had knocked against the fence launched herself at me. The spear in her mouth was a bit unwieldy, but its reach kept me at a distance. As she thrust the point toward me I jumped to the side and slashed through the spear with my Cleaver. She was next, run through by the blade. As I trotted over to retrieve my war axe, I suddenly experienced a lancing pain through the back of my head, and my helmet was thrown off. Putting my hoof to the back of my head, I found a long gash carved by a sword had opened up. I cast a quick healing spell to fix it as I searched for my attacker. I ducked down quickly as a green blur passed over my head. A pegasus bandit with a sword in his teeth paused for a moment to glare down at me before swooping toward me again. I held my sword up and blocked this time as the winged menace rocketed at me. He was forced to pull to a stop and engage me as I swung my sword at him. He easily blocked my strikes, having a significant height advantage. Whenever my strikes came close to him, he would just flap out of range before coming back in. Soon I was covered in minor nicks and he was completely unharmed, and I was sick of it. I Shouted and he turned to ice, frozen by my breath, and dropped to the ground. I plunged my sword into the frozen block of a pony, sending lightning arcing through him. Seeing as nopony else had emerged to fight me, I made my way to the keep’s doors and let myself in. Inside the keep, things were quiet for the most part, though I could hear bandits rushing around farther in, no doubt getting ready to fight or stashing away their spoils. I wasn’t about to walk into a trap or an ambush, so I made my way down the stone halls quietly and carefully. I was about to enter a larger room, probably intended for dining, when I stopped myself. Several bandits were inside: a unicorn, two earth ponies, a zebra, and a pegasus hovering near the ceiling. Not willing to fight another aerial opponent, I pulled out my bow and lined up a shot on the pegasus. My arrow flew true, striking her in the chest, and causing her to fall to her death below. The other four bandits were taken off guard by her fall and pulled out their weapons to search for me. Before I could be detected, I quickly rushed into the room and cut through an earth pony with a battleaxe. My approach was not silent by a long shot, and the other three bandits turned on me at once. I shot a trail of fire at the other earth pony as she tried to attack me with a mace. She was burned badly, but still got close enough to swing at me. The Axe of Whitetrot blocked, knocking her back. A second blast of fire finished her off. I jumped to the side as a stream of fire jetted at me. The unicorn’s horn was still glowing with magic as I turned to face him. I blasted lightning at him, but it bounced pointlessly off a ward he conjured up. It looked like I would be facing a magician here with more spells than the average bandit. As he shot his own lightning bolt at me, I blocked with Calcion’s Cleaver. The blade hungrily accepted the energy before sending it back at the bandit. <> I Shouted, quickly closing the gap with him. His wards offered no protection from a quick sword swipe. He fell to the floor dead, a gash through his neck. Only the zebra remained, and I could see she had thrown the majority of her armor off and was wielding no weapons. What was her plan, to face me unarmed, with her hooves alone? Apparently so, I realized as she launched herself toward me. As I swung my sword around, she clamped her hooves around it, twisting it from my grasp. She followed up with a quick kick to my side, denting in my armor and cracking my ribs. Perhaps she didn’t need a weapon after all. I shot a bolt of lightning at her as she approached again, and though it impacted and I could see it pained her, she kept coming. This time her hoof came down on my hindleg, snapping the bone. The agony was so intense I collapsed to the floor. As she loomed over me, I quickly pulled my steel sword from my saddlebags, taking the zebra by surprise and slicing through her side. As she reeled back, I staggered to my three good hooves. A blast of fire kept her at a distance long enough for me to collect my thoughts. I Shouted before she could dodge. My steel sword slashed through her frozen body, but I made sure she was dead before I collapsed to the floor. Painstakingly, I reset the bone in my leg and my ribs before downing a few healing potions. Once I was healed enough to concentrate again, I fixed my wounds up the rest of the way with a healing spell. Before moving on, I searched the bodies for any useful items. I came away with a particularly good find with the unicorn, a spell tome entitled Conjure Flame Atronach. I cracked open the cover and allowed the book to combust, teaching me the spell in seconds. I now knew how to summon a guardian composed entirely of fire, which could be useful in the future. After a last look around, I headed deeper into the fort, toward wherever the bandit leader was holed up. Two more bandits I encountered on the way, but they were easily dispatched with a single sword swipe. Climbing stairs to the next floors, I eventually reached the inner keep. Heavy doors were supposed to keep intruders out, but they were flung wide open, as if inviting me in. As I approached them, however, four more bandits spewed out, ready to defend their leader. I jumped into the fray, killing the first instantly with a strike from Calcion’s Cleaver, and a second a moment after with a slash from the Axe of Whitetrot. The other two closed in from the sides, but I blocked both their strikes with my twin weapons. As my war axe slashed through one, I dropped it and focused my magic on blasting lightning into the other, who was blocking my sword. The whole affair took only a few seconds. Quickly cleaning off my blades, I entered the inner keep. Chests filled with ill-gotten wares were piled up everywhere, and the bandit chief stood among them. She was a bat-pony, her velvety wings folded across her back and her tufted ears standing at attention. She drew a long, curved blade as I entered, launching into the air as if anticipating the fight to come. I sent lightning blast after lightning blast up at her, scorching the ceiling, but she deftly avoided them. When I gave up on hitting her with my magic, she took the chance to strike, swooping down at me. Her blade glanced off my own as I blocked. Circling around, she came at me again, and again I blocked. The next time she swooped down, I was ready, and filled her path with fire. She tumbled to the floor, smoking as holes burned through her thin wings. I tried to rush forward as she was down, but she quickly recovered and was back on her hooves, ready to defend herself. I swung my sword at her, but she deftly avoided it, stabbing past my blade and piercing my armor in the shoulder-joint. <<>> I Shouted, pushing her back and staggering her. I rushed forward as she was down, this time reaching her before she could get up. However, she still managed to get her sword up to block. But now that she was on the ground, she was vulnerable to my magic. My lightning pierced her body, causing her to convulse and drop her sword. I pressed my blade to her throat as she continued to twitch, ending her life. With the bandit chief dead, I bandaged my wounds and headed for the fort’s exit. As I entered the courtyard, the twanging of a bow reminded me that I had not killed quite everypony yet. I turned toward the tower, where the archer was concealed. As I watched, another arrow flew from the fort, but not at me. I turned to see what she was shooting at, only to witness a dragon slamming into the tower, knocking it apart and killing the archer inside. Flapping its wings to stay aloft and digging its claws into what was left of the tower to stay in place, the great lizard turned to look at me. Releasing the tower, it swooped toward me, filling the fort’s courtyard with fire. Desperately, I pressed myself against the wall to avoid the flames. I pulled out my bow as the dragon circled around for another pass, firing two arrows into it before I was forced to retreat again. The next time it circled around, I was able to stick four in the beast. Realizing it was becoming a pincushion, the dragon stopped its aerial attacks and landed heavily in the courtyard. With nowhere to run, I realized the only thing to do was directly engage the dragon. <> I Shouted, rushing forward. The dragon never knew what hit it as I slashed Calcion’s Cleaver across its nose. With another slash, I took out one of its angry eyes. Roaring in pain, it knocked me aside with its head, sending me skidding across the courtyard. I rolled to the side to avoid a blast of fire, almost getting backed into a corner before the stream stopped. As I leapt to my hooves, the dragon jumped forward, propelling itself along with a quick beat of its wings. Its jaws snapped at me and I jumped back. It was trying to eat me! My Draugr sword slashed through its nose again, and I ran back as the dragon snapped at me again. I shot a blast of lightning at the dragon’s face, but the majority of the energy dispersed across the scales, just making it mad. As I continued to retreat from the lizard, I realized I had been backed against a wall. There was nowhere to run as the beast suddenly grabbed me in its jaws. Razor sharp teeth pierced my armor like it was cheap parchment, tearing through my flesh and organs. I gave a cry of pain as the teeth cut into me. Fighting the pain, I kept my magic active, if just barely, and forced Calcion’s Cleaver into the dragon’s mouth. With a final thrust of energy, I forced the blade up into the dragon’s brain. Thankfully, the dragon lived just long enough to let out a scream of pain, releasing me from its jaws, before it died. Quite a few bandages and healing potions later, I was able to stand again, though not without wincing. The dragon began to combust as I pulled my blade from its mouth, and I embraced the memories as they flowed into me. The dragon’s life and all its experiences were mine, though my mind tended to focus on when the dragon had focused on spirits, and even practiced turning itself into the spirit form. I had the distinct feeling that, combined with FEIM, the draconic word for spirit, ZII, would allow me to take on a better ethereal form. <> I Shouted, and my body took on the eerie see-through quality of a ghost. When I returned to my regular form, I felt oddly rejuvenated, as if my brief bout of spirit-ness had healed me. Checking my wounds, I found they were far more healed than before I had Shouted. I filed away the new Shout I had learned, and turned myself toward the fort’s exit. I was headed back east, toward Windhorn (or Earthhaven as Jarl Stormcloud insisted on calling it.) ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ “So, the fort’s all cleared out?” Stormcloud asked as I stood before his throne in the Palace of Kings. “Yes,” I answered, “Though you’ll need to remove the bandits’ bodies and the dragon skeleton yourself.” “Well, that’ll do I suppose,” he said, “You’ve earned the location of the Hall of the Vigilant.” “Though, I must ask,” he added after marking the location on my map, “Why do you need to find Cloverdust so badly?” “I’d rather not say,” I replied, both because it involved the Dark Brotherhoof, and because it was fairly complicated. “I see,” the Jarl said, looking troubled, “But I may as well warn you before you get your hopes up, the Vigilants will most likely not let you in to see Cloverdust. They don’t allow anypony in to see their convicts. In fact, they’ll most likely try to lock you up too if you ask about him.” “We’ll see,” I said before leaving. The Vigilants would have to let me in, one way or another. If that meant fighting through them to get to this foal, then so be it. He was my only hope at seeing Steadfast again. And to get Steadfast back, I would take on the whole Empire if necessary. Level Up Health: 180 Stamina: 170 Magicka: 170 New Perk: A Shot in the Dark [Archery] -- Sneak attacks with bows now do 3 times critical damage. New Spell learned: Conjure Flame Atronach -- You can now use your unicorn magic to conjure up a guardian composed entirely of flame that will fight on your behalf. Dragon Soul collected New Quest: A Vigil to Break -- Get in to see Cloverdust at the Hall of the Vigilant, one way or another.