• Published 4th Jul 2021
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Skyrim: The Faces of Death - Blackdrag-rose



Amaryllis, a changeling infiltrator for Chrysalis' hive, goes looking for her missing queen, but is teleported to a brand new world in the process, one that is unlike anything she's seen so far, while also being in the middle of a war.

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Wanderings: More Bandits

Amaryllis eventually came to a stop as she reached what appeared to be one of the entrances for Riverwood, which, based on what she could tell at a glance, seemed to be similar to the ones in Helgen, where these ones were mostly made out of stone and had wooden posts that were connected to a cover of sorts, which would allow any guards who were positioned in this town to watch the roads and keep an eye on travelers, even though it didn't look like there were any guards in this place, an odd fact when she noticed it. The only different between Riverwood's entrances and Helgen's entrances was that Riverwood's weren't connected at all, as from where she was standing it was easy to see two gates, at the very least, and it didn't appear that they were linked in anyway, and there weren't any wooden gates attached to either gate, which meant people were free to come and go as they pleased as they traveled between the main cities of Skyrim, transporting goods and other things in the hopes of selling them. Before she entered the small town the first thing she did was make sure she had her female imperial disguise on, before someone spotted her and possibly raised an alarm due to her true form, while the second thing she did was sit off to the right of the entrance, outside of the town to be exact, and counted the coins she had taken from the bandits in the mine, though she was surprised that she had recovered nearly three hundred gold coins from them, which also included counting what had been inside the small coin pouch she had taken from Helgen. That told her that it was a good thing she had taken care of the bandits, otherwise they would have robbed who knows how many more people and killed those who were waylaid by them, before she took a moment to move all the coins into one of the more thick sacks that she was currently carrying, which could serve as her coin container for the foreseeable future, and then slipped it into her pack for a second, though once that task was done she picked herself up and braced herself as she headed into the town that was her current destination, since she had no idea what was going to happen as she searched for a way back home.

The first thing she quickly noticed, as she slowly walked down the street and took in the sights, was that there happened to be a number of different races living in this small town, where she recalled that there were many races that called Tamriel home, something that she had learned during her brief time in Helgen and didn't get to learn too much about before her rather sudden departure, but at the very least that lesson had given her enough information to work with, allowing her to fill in the blanks on her own. From what she could tell the man that was to her left, who happened to be wearing an set of clothing that looked like the attire of a smith and was tending to a forge, was a nord, which had to be true for the little girl that was watching him work the metal and the older lady that was talking to him about something, before she spotted a man with pointed ears and white hair, who resembled a bosmer, from what she had been told, though his attire made her think he was a hunter, given the bow and quiver on his back. There was another lady walking down the street and was also heading her way, who was wearing clothes that one would wear around a house, that entered a building that looked like the general trader for the town, a building that she was going to have to visit before she left, though the lady appeared to be an imperial, just like her disguise, meaning whoever was inside the trader was either a nord or an imperial. Other than those three races she really didn't see any of the other ones that she had been told about, as there were no other elves in this town and she didn't see any khajiit or argonians wandering around, though for now she decided to focus on why she had come to this town and what she needed to do, which was sell off her useless junk and then get directions at the inn, which seemed to be close to the entrance that was further up the street she was walking on, a building that happened to be resting near the town's other gate, which she knew to be the eastern gate and that meant the one she walked through had been the western one.

As she continued down the street, however, she paused as she spotted an old lady staring up at the sky with a shocked look on her face, informing Amaryllis that she must have seen the black dragon as well, though that was when a young man, no doubt the lady's son, came out of the house she was standing in front of and placed a hand on her shoulder so he could take her back inside the building, though as they headed back inside the house Amaryllis heard the old lady say that she saw a dragon and her son didn't believe her at all. Instead of worrying about the old lady and her son, which she knew would have delayed her for some time, she continued down the street and focused on the general store, since she wanted to sell off the gems and other bits of loot she had acquired from the bandits, though she also learned that it might be best if she didn't tell anyone that she saw the black dragon that flew over the barrow, since it appeared that people were being treated as being insane for mentioning that. As much as she would like to warn people about the black dragon, and what it could mean for this land, she decided to keep it to herself for now as she entered the general trader, the Riverwood Trader based on what the sign outside the building said, and quickly found that the imperial lady she spotted earlier was arguing with someone that had to be her brother, based on what they said as she entered the building. It appeared that neither of them had really noticed that she had entered the building, meaning that whatever they were arguing about had to be very important to them, but from what little she could gather the store had been broken into and they had a priceless item due to the theft, a golden claw by the sounds of it, which told her it had to be an ornament of some kind and didn't have much of a purpose in everyday life, not that she really cared about it. What she discovered was that there was a counter that was shaped almost like an L, except for the fact that both sides were the same length and one of them was attached to the wall that was opposite of the door she had entered through, and she could tell there was a second level, based on the nearby wooden stairs and the fact that it was slightly larger than most buildings, while the other side of the counter was open so the person who sold things could talk with whoever came to visit, which happened to be the brother of the imperial lady that had entered the building before her.

"Oh, a customer!" the brother said, just noticing the fact that Amaryllis had entered his place of work and was currently in the middle of looking around the room, no doubt suspecting that she was looking for something to buy, before he nodded to his sister, as if saying that whatever they were arguing about would have to wait until later, where she headed over to the table that sat near the fireplace, which opened up the area in front of him, "Greetings, I am Lucan Valerius, owner of the Riverwood Trader, and this is my sister, Camilla Valerius, though I'm sorry you had to overhear us argue for the last few minutes."

"It's alright, I wasn't listening to the argument at all," Amaryllis replied, showing the brother and sister that she hadn't been listening to them all that much, even though their statements had given her a good idea as to what might have happened last night, before she focused on why she had come to this building in the first place as she reached into her pack, so she could pull out the various items she wanted to sell before she left this small town and moved on with her quest, all while approaching the counter as Lucan leaned forward to see what sort of items she had for him.

Amaryliis had assumed that Lucan and Camilla would be annoyed by someone not taking an interest in the fact that their store had been broken into and their golden ornament had been stolen, something that the ponies and the various other creatures of Equestria would have been if someone did that to them, but here, in the land of Skyrim, it appeared that most travelers weren't interested in the flights of shopkeepers, not unless they were adventuers who were looking to become heroes or make a name for themselves. Given that information Lucan was more focused on business and less on the fact that his ornament had been stolen from him, where he watched as she started to pull out the items that she wanted to sell and raised an eyebrow for a moment as he stared down at the gemstones that she had taken from the mine, even though he briefly glanced at the pair of books she had picked up along the way, before she added the ring she had picked up to all of the items in front of her. He stared at the pair of amethysts, the garnet, the ruby, and the ring she had picked up earlier, meaning that they had to be the most expensive pieces, or so Amaryllis hoped, for a time before glancing at the book that was on the counter, where it looked like he might be thinking about what sort of price he could offer her, before he came to a decision and offered her two hundred and fifty gold for the gems and the ring, with another twenty-five for the book, where she wasted no time in trading the items over for the gold, since she knew that she would need the coins in the near future. Once that transaction was done, and she had the coins on her side of the counter while Lucan stored his new stock in a small basket, no doubt storing them in a temporary space until she left the trader, she took a few minutes to browse the rest of Lucan's wares, mostly to see if he had anything she might need for her quest, something that seemed to please both him and his sister, indicating that most people came and sold things before leaving, with only a few of them staying and buying things from him.

What caught her attention was a book that had a purple cover what what appeared to be a gateway of some kind on it's front side, because Lucan told her what a number of the items were, fully expecting her not to know what most of it was since he assumed that she was from Cyrodiil, no doubt because of her disguise, but she was thankful for him giving her all sorts of information on the various items he had in stock, especially this book, since it revealed what sort of items were in this land and gave her an idea on what she might need in the future.

"This is something I acquired from a traveler that came through a few days ago," Lucan said, as he could tell that Amaryllis was interested in the tome and was curious about it, while his sister rolled her eyes and focused on something else for the next couple of minutes, even though she would have to listen to her brother talk about one of the items that he should be selling, "she sold me the tome for next to nothing, as she only accepted ten gold in exchange for it, but from what she told me the spell that this book teaches gives the reader the knowledge on how to summon a personal chest, which appears in the area front of the caster. According to what I was told, this spell allows the user to store whatever they want inside of it, and as much as they want, without the fear of running out of room, which would allow someone to raid an entire barrow of all the treasures that are inside it, or carry most of a shipment while only carrying a single bag on them... it sounds like a useful spell, but, well, I don't have the skill or knowledge to use magic, so I'm afraid that I would mess up this spell in some way, but someone like you, or a wandering mage, might be able to wield this spell."

"Out of curiosity, how much are you asking for it?" Amaryllis inquired, because if the spell was that good, and it could carry anything she wanted while freeing up her bag for the more important stuff, it almost sounded like the sort of investment she needed to make, for the betterment of her quest to find a way back home, but she wanted to be sure that it wasn't horribly expensive and would be out of what she could buy with the gold she had on hand, otherwise she would have to leave it behind and maybe come back for it at a later date.

"One hundred and fifty coins is what I'm asking for it." Lucan said, which informed Amaryllis that, despite the many uses the spell had for all sorts of people, be they adventurers or heroes, it wasn't as desired as the rest of the other spell tomes that existed in the world, the ones that people charged more for than the common spells, and that she had enough gold to buy the tome if she really wanted it, even though it did sure look like Lucan wanted her to purchase it after everything he had just told her.

In the end Amaryllis gave back some of the coin she made from selling the gems, the ring, and the book earlier, all while claiming a spell that might be useful in the future, once she figured out how to use it, though once she had it in her hands she thanked Lucan for his time and headed outside, leaving him being the one who came out ahead in that exchange, but if he was able to give her that many coins for the items she had traded him she was sure that he could double the coins he had given her. Since the trader wasn't the best place to get information on the rest of Skyrim, at least in her mind it wasn't, she focused on walking down to the rectangular shaped building that was near the edge of town and headed inside the Sleeping Giant Inn, figuring that she could get some ideas on where she could go from the innkeeper or one of the other patrons, since there might be a traveler or two that she could talk to and get some information from. What she discovered was that there was a large fire pit in the middle of the area that the patrons gathered in, along with a few tables lining the wall in front of her and the wall to her left, where she quickly spotted a few doors that lead to the bedrooms, and a few chairs on her right for people to sit in, some resting in front of tables that people could sit at and have some fun while they stayed in this place. From what she could tell it was still rather early for the other patrons to arrive, as the only ones that were in the inn were the innkeeper, an old breton lady that was standing near the counter as she dusted the floor, and the person she assumed was the cook and bartender, a nord man who was older than some of the nords she had seen so far, only that was when the breton stopped what she was doing and walked over to the counter that the nord was standing on the other side of, making her wonder if another argument was going to break out, which would be a terrible experience since it would cause travelers to flee without spending any coin on the establishment.

"Orgnar." the lady said, sounding like she had remembered something while she was cleaning the floor, though it was easy for her to assume that the nord was the one she was talking to, since he was the only other person in the building at the moment, though at the same time it looked like the bartender was ignoring her as he thought about when their normal patrons might arrive and start spending their coins on food and drink, before the lady huffed and got ready to repeat her statement, "Orgnar! Are you paying attention to anything that's going on?"

"Hard not to." the nord, Orgnar, replied, his tone revealing that their relationship might not be the best in the world, as it seemed like his partner raised her voice at him all the time, to pester him about anything and everything that might have happened in this area, while he maintained the same tone whenever he spoke to her, though at the same time he shifted his gaze away from the door Amaryllis used to get inside the inn and focused on the lady for a few seconds, showing that he did know there was a customer inside the building, "What seems to be the problem?"

"I checked the vats earlier and it appears that the ale is going bad, so we're going to need to get a new batch as soon as possible." the lady stated, where Amaryllis had to wonder how they could have let one of the items that they sold to their patrons get this close to going bad, without replacing it no less, but she remained silent as the lady stopped for a moment, as she had been turning towards the alchemy workbench while she talked, and then sighed as she turned towards Orgnar once more, "Did you hear what I just told you?"

"Yep, I sure did. You said the ale's going bad." Orgnar answered, though it appeared that he was focused on the fact that Amaryllis had entered the inn and might be a customer for some time, instead of worrying about the ale, but this did tell her that once everything was said and done he would ensure that the ale was replaced, or whatever it was that people in this world did when their vats started to go bad, even though it did look like his partner had no idea that someone had wandered into their inn.

"I guess you don't have potatoes in your ears after all." the lady commented, showing Amaryllis that Orgnar was used to this sort of treatment and just blocked out part of what he was told, given that he did nothing as the lady said that, which was just odd and made her wonder why he even put up with her, especially since she had a habit of insulting him and his intelligence, before she turned towards the alchemy workbench and started to pull out some ingredients, even though it did seem like she had one more thing to say, "Just make sure we get a fresh batch in soon."

For a moment Amaryllis wondered what was up with this land, where people seemed to be have arguments with someone else whenever people entered the various buildings, be it in this small town or the other settlements, the latter being her reasoning after everything she had seen so far and had to wonder if the owners were hoping that someone could assist them in their struggles, like how Lucan would have wanted someone to recover the claw or how the lady might want the next shipment to be picked up, before she pushed the thought away and approached the bar that Orgnar was standing at, so she could get the information she needed and get out of here.

"We've got rooms and food." Orgnar stated, as he waited for Amaryllis to come to a stop at his station before speaking to her, though at the same time Amaryllis noticed that the lady paused for a moment as she glanced up from the workbench she was working at, showing that she was interested in who came into the inn, despite the fact that Amaryllis didn't have any plans on staying in Riverwood for too much longer, "We also have drinks as well. I can cook if you want something to eat. Ain't much else to tell."

"Sorry, I won't be staying long. I just stopped to rest my legs before the next part of my journey," Amaryllis replied, as that was a partly true statement that anyone would believe, that she was just a random stranger that was passing through the town and would be gone in no time, especially if she made it seem like she had somewhere she needed to be by a specific deadline, before she considered something as she focused on Orgnar, "Though I am curious if you have any rumors about what's happening in the other Holds."

"Rumor has it that Ulfric Stormcloak has been captured and is going to be executed sometime today, but I'll believe that when we see his head." Orgnar said, though Amaryllis knew that this rumor was true, as the Imperial soldiers that she had spent some time with wouldn't have celebrated like they did if what their Captain had told them was a lie, but she decided to keep her mouth shut for now as the cook continued with what he knew, "Other than that some visitors from Windhelm, who were heading to Falkreath to visit someone, said that there's a dark or cursed child, depending on who you're talking to, by the name of Aventus Aretino whose been trying to contact... the Dark Brotherhood."

"The Dark Brotherhood?" Amaryllis echoed, mostly because it wasn't an organization she had heard of, which made sense since she had been in Skyrim for about a day and had no idea what all the various groups were in this land, though at the same time she didn't really think Orgnar needed to have the pause when he was mentioning the name of the group the boy was trying to contact, but she wasn't about to argue with him and just let him talk the way he wanted to, since it did give her some information on the rest of the land.

"They're a group of professional assassins," the lady commented, where Amaryllis noticed that she was now done with the work she had been doing and was moving to do something else with her spare time, which happened to be her moving all of the potions she had made, a fair number of healing ones based on the red coloration of the liquid, over to a basket that was near Orgnar, allowing her to move away from the door that lead to the area the owner of this inn slept in, which had to be the pair in front of her, before she considered something as she faced them, "though I've heard that they have fallen on hard times lately, so it's possible that they might be dying out soon and that poor boy can move on with his life without inviting that darkness into Windhelm."

"Other than that, there's not much else to tell," Orgnar said, revealing that nothing really exciting was happening, despite the presence of a dragon in Skyrim, which she was keeping to herself due to how that old lady was treated, by her own son no less, before the cook pulled out something from behind the counter and placed it in front of her, which turned out to be a slip of paper, "though if you're working for work, and don't mind bloodying your weapons a bit, the Jarl's men left this bounty letter here a few days ago."

Amaryllis picked up the letter for a few moments and found that it was an order from the Jarl of Whiterun, Balgruuf the Greater, to all able bodied men and women of his Hold, where the letter detailed that the bandits in White River Watch were harassing, robbing, and attacking both civilians and travelers, along with ordering the death of the bandit leader in exchange for a reward of some kind, before being signed by who she assumed was the Steward. She didn't even say that she would take the bandits out or that she was even looking for work, meaning that she had to be careful when she was talking to people, but, at the same time, Orgnar didn't seem like he was pushing it on her, rather, since she had presented herself as a soldier that was traveling, it seemed more like a warning if she was heading to the east, and the lady, Delphine according to what Orgnar said, revealed that the bandits were close to a four way intersection not far from Riverwood, one she would be able to see if she headed for Whiterun. One group of bandits had already been defeated by her, even if she could have avoided bothering them in the first place, but even as she thought about it she realized that this group was a bit more dangerous since they were causing more trouble for the Hold than the ones that had been in the mine earlier, or at least that was her opinion given this information, which meant that they had to be taken out at some point, be it by her or by someone else. Considering the fact that no one else seemed interested in facing the bandits at White River Watch, and were more interested in leading their ordinary lives, she guessed that she could spent an hour or two clearing out the cave and making sure there were no more bandits to harass the people of Whiterun, or the people that were traveling all of the roads that lead to the city that was the center of this Hold, based on what she could figure out by looking at the map of Skyrim anyway.

In the end Amaryllis excused herself from the bar and sat down in one of the chairs near the fire pit, making it look like she was resting from her journey, while in reality she was considering what she wanted to do next before she left Riverwood, in terms of seeking someone to help her get back home or help the people of this land to help her get to her goal, and she remained that way for a couple of minutes, which gave the other patrons time to actually come into the building and sit at the various tables, giving her the perfect chance to slip out while the owners were distracted by their customers, after she reached a decision on what she wanted to do.

Once Amaryllis was outside the inn, however, she paused for a few seconds as she spotted two newcomers enter the town through the entrance she had walked through earlier, though while one of them seemed to be one of the Imperial soldiers she had seen yesterday, and she was certain she had seen him at some point, the other person was someone she hadn't encountered before and caused her to focus on them for a couple of moments. The second newcomer was a khajiit, the cat-like people she had heard the other Imperial soldiers talk about before the Captain made her announcement, though she could also tell that the person was female by how their body was shaped, and the mounds on her chest, while her fur seemed to be a light brown or creamy color, which had black markings that seemed to be part of her fur, just like the cats Amaryllis had seen in Canterlot from time to time. The khajiit even had cat ears and a cat tail, matching the coloration of her body, not that Amaryllis wasn't expecting her to have those features thanks to what she learned earlier, and her face was also pushed out in a muzzle, like a cat's would be, which just confirmed that the khajiit's were cat-like people and that the argonians, if she ever met one, would be lizard-like people, though the only interesting thing about her, that she could see from this distance, was what appeared to be a set of three diagonal lines across her face, between her eyes. That told Amaryllis that the khajiit must have been in a fight at some point in her life and had scars from whatever happened that day, though the last thing she was able to see, before the khajiit and the Imperial soldier started to enter the blacksmith's house as the nord in question did the same thing, was the pair of iron swords that the khajiit was wearing on her belt, like she liked to use two weapons and no shields, an interesting style to use since it allowed someone to have two weapons as they fought whoever was in front of them. The really interesting thing was that the khajiit, before heading into the house in question, paused for a few seconds, as if she knew that somone was watching her, and glanced in Amaryllis' direction not even a moment later, where Amaryllis quickly turned towards the eastern path, which would allow her to leave the town without the khajiit knowing that she had been staring at her, and since she didn't hear anyone calling out to her that told her that she was fine for the time being.

As she headed down that path that would take her to the four way intersection she had been told about, which would also allow her to find White River Watch, Amaryllis realized that she was going to have to change her disguise before the next time she interacted with someone, along with finding a new outfit to wear, because she was sure that everyone in Helgen had noticed her disappearance this morning and she didn't want that soldier to follow her once he was done with making sure Riverwood was safe, or whatever he was doing in the town. For a moment she considered changing into a khajiit, just to try it out, or maybe one of the other races she had seen in the last hour since she left the mine, but for now she decided that, since she was close to where the people of Skyrim lived, it was best if she kept the imperial disguise on, at least until she found somewhere safe to change back into her natural form or into a new form, provided she found some gear that could replace her current armor. One of the things she had to be careful about was the wolf that chased a rabbit onto the path in front of her, where she paused for a few seconds as she watched something interesting, because the wolf actually charged into the water that its prey had jumped into and swam across the river as it followed its target, before she shook her head and moved forward, so she could focus on her goal again, since worrying about the wildlife was a waste of time, especially since the wolf had ignored her. It wasn't long after that event that she had to pause again, only this time she was looking to the northwest, where a large city rested in the middle of a plains, no doubt built on a large hill of some kind that had been molded into it's current shape, and while there was a wooden wall that protected the city there was also a large castle or keep of some kind at the highest point of the city, where she assumed the Jarl and his Steward resided, ruling the Hold from the safety of the castle, though she had to admit that it was an impressive city from where she was standing and would no doubt see what was inside it soon enough.

Directly in front of her rested another building, a large one that she would investigate later, while off to her left were what appeared to be a few houses and a farm, but instead of worrying about those locations she followed the path that was in front of her and found the crossroads that she had been told about, where she headed to the right and spotted the cave entrance that had to be White River Watch, the home of the bandits she had been told about and had to wonder if they had tackled any caravans lately.

It didn't take her long to walk over the bridge and find a dirt path that had to lead to the entrance of the cave that was her destination, as she had decided to take out the bandits in question, though when she got close to the entrance she found a small camp outside it, complete with two bandits that immediately attacked her without saying a single word, unlike the last bandits she had encountered, one swinging a sword at her and the other one loosing arrows in her direction. Amaryllis moved out of the way before the first arrow could hit her, forcing the archer to pull out a few more arrows as the bandit in question readied herself, allowing her to parry the attack that was coming at her with her sword, before she pushed the bandit backwards and swung downwards, cutting a diagonal gash into his bare chest, making her wonder why someone would be a bandit and not wear anything to protect themselves. As soon as the bandit fell she backed off and avoided the next arrow that the archer loosed at her, though instead of approaching this foe she pulled out her bow and returned fire, hitting her foe in the chest and caused her to stagger for a moment, which was the best time to approach her and take her out with a swift sword swing to the chest, delivering another diagonal gash that cut through her armor, before she sighed once the bandits was dead and investigated the camp for anything she could use. The only things that she found were the arrows from the archer, the gold both the bandits were carrying, a locked chest that she had to open with one of the picks she had collected earlier, which contained some coins and a small red potion, which weren't worth locking inside a chest in her mind, and a note that the male bandit had been carrying, something that interested her and caused her to open it the moment she held it in her hand. According to what was written on it the note revealed it was addressed to Rodulf, her first foe in this area, who apparently had a habit of sneaking in and out of this hideout and played pranks on the watchman of the camp, a figure who had to be on the other side of the entrance, who was also the uncle of the leader of these bandits, to which she lowered the note for a moment as she considered a plan of attack that might be better than wiping out the entire group of bandits.

Her plan was simple, she was going to take on the form of Rodulf and make her way through the bandit camp, to reach the area that the leader happened to be resting in and take him out to bring chaos to these guys, hence the reason she took a moment to recall the voice that Rodulf had used, before she cut him down anyway, and was thankful that he had given her a few samples of what he sounded like, otherwise this would have been far harder than just wandering through the cave in question. She also prayed that this guy was well liked by the rest of the group that she would be walking by, otherwise she was sure that one little incorrect movement or comment could make them on high alert, but there was a chance that they might assume 'he' was drunk or something and just ignore 'him', causing her to think about to what happened when she visited both Helgen and Riverwood earlier. Based on how easy it was to convince the people of Riverwood that she was a wandering soldier, and didn't have time to sit down and eat something at the inn, she was sure that this had a high chance of success, but she was planning on preparing herself in case things went south on her, like they did in Canterlot, so she didn't have to run out of the cave with a bunch of bandits chasing after her, which would likely annoy the guards of Whiterun a bit. As such she shifted back into her new base form and then took on the form of Rodulf, where the first thing she did was make sure her new form was identical to the dead body she was borrowing it from, before double checking the voice, since she didn't want that to fail on her either, though once she was sure that she had copied Rodulf exactly, only with better armor, she braced herself and headed into the cave, knowing that it was time to see if she could pull this off or not.

When she entered the cave she found an old nord man who was sitting at a table that was a few steps in front of her, and he seemed to be staring at the wall while ignoring the book that was right in front of him, though the interesting thing was that when Amaryllis took a step forward the nord turned his head slightly, but the way he was looking around for a few seconds told her that he had to be blind, which was an odd thing since he had to be the watchman that the note had told her about earlier.

"Eh? What's that sound? Who's there?" the old nord asked, proving that he had to be blind, as all he heard was the sound of Amaryllis stepping on some of the stones and he was alert, or as alert as one could be since he couldn't see what was around him, which had to be rather annoying since it prevented him from doing anything besides sitting at this desk and staring at a rock wall, before he seemed to consider something for a few seconds, "Rodulf, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me." Amaryllis replied, where Rodulf's voice came out perfectly, just like she had hoped it would, and as soon as she said that it looked like the old man was relieved to hear that it was someone he knew, instead of an intruder or two, something that would have been when he called his allies down to fight them off, even though that was a wrong thought to have, since an intruder was standing near his location.

"Good to hear. The boss was looking for you earlier, said he'd be up at the summit waiting for you." the old nord said, where he turned his head and continued looking at the wall in front of him, almost as if he was dismissing 'Rodulf' and was returning to what he had been doing earlier, but Amaryllis stayed put in case there was anything else the old nord wanted to say before she moved on, "Better not keep him waiting."

Amaryllis said nothing as she walked towards the opening that was behind the old nord and found some wooden stairs that allowed her to reach the level that was above her, which she took and walked like she belonged here, though as she did that she picked up one of the sacks that were off to the right, which had likely stored some potions or food inside it at one point in time, and stored it with everything else that was inside her pack. Her thought was that since the Jarl and his Steward were posting a reward for the leader of this group of bandits, regardless of how much they were offering for such a deed, she might need to bring some sort of evidence with her to show that she had taken out the bandit in question, so they didn't accuse her of lying to them, meaning she needed to take the head of the bandit leader, which she didn't want to do and was only doing it since she didn't want them to call her a liar. She knew that there was a good chance that this wasn't necessary and that she was wasting her time in gathering a bag to hold the head of the bandit leader, but she felt that it was better to be prepared and prove that she was telling the truth, instead of not having it when she found out who the Jarl and Steward were. Once she came to that decision, and braced herself for what she was going to do, Amaryllis just continued on her path and walked into the next chamber of the cave, where she overheard a pair of bandits discussing an interesting subject, as it sounded like they were planning on doing something to the blind watchman, confirming that he was the uncle of the bandit leader that she was here to deal with, and it sounded like they were planning on disposing the blind man in the near future, but the conversation died down as she approached them. In that moment Amaryllis assumed that Rodulf was either disliked among this group or the other bandits were a little smart and were keeping their mouths shut, as if they knew that their fellow bandit was in trouble with their leader and didn't want him to rat them out, but she paid them little mind as she followed the path that was in front of her and headed deeper into the cave, so she could focus on what she was doing and hoped that none of the bandits tried to stop her.

There was a third bandit near the pair that had been talking about the blind watchman, who simply looked at her as she walked by him and headed up the stone ramp that was behind him, allowing her to head up to a level where one of the alchemy tables rested, though that meant that at least three of the bandits in this cave were planning on turning on their leader's uncle, which might work to her advantage. She had to assume that the bandits were either using the natural materials of this cave to make poisons for their attacks on people that came this way or they made useless potions to sell to people somewhere nearby, to swindle them of their money, but she paid it no mind as she continued walking, as she really didn't want to be stopped by one of the bandits before she reached her destination, as that might ruin her chances of completing this misison. A few moments later she found another chamber that she would have to walk through, one that was at least twice as tall as the previous one, and she found four bandits in this area, though while three of them appeared to be nords, wearing the same fur and scaled armor as the group she had walked by a few moments ago, there was a green skinned orc with them, wearing an identical set of armor. It appeared that the orc and one of the nords were talking about taming a wolf, who was being kept in a nearby cage of sorts and was being starved by someone so it would submit to their wills easier, though it seemed that the orc knew that the wolf couldn't be tamed and was waiting it out, to weaken it's strength to the point where it would be easy to kill, so he could move on to taming a dog or something else as the gang's attack animal. Amaryllis remained silent as she walked up to the uppermost level of this chamber, where she found a path that seemed to take her back outside and took it as the bandits focused on what they were doing, ignoring her for the most part, but when she stepped outside she found a buff nord, wearing steel armor, that was sitting in a chair and happened to be looking out at the roads that were near the cave, no doubt so he could plan their next attack, before he noticed her standing there.

"Ah, Rodulf, you got here faster than I thought you would, considering the last time I had to talk with you," the bandit leader said, to which he got up from where he was sitting and turned to focus on the roads, as in giving the roads his full undivided attention, which Amaryllis knew was a terrible mistake on his part, especially since he was standing with some railing in front of him and a drop behind that, "Did my uncle say anything to you, other than the fact that I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes?"

"No boss, he only said you were looking for me." Amaryllis replied, though since it appeared that her target wasn't paying attention she shifted back to her original form and kept the voice modification for now, just in case she needed to say something else before she did the deed, but even as she did that she slowly pulled her dagger out and readied herself for what she was going to do.

"I know you like to mess with my uncle, but I have an assignment for you," the leader stated, where he beckoned to the road that Amaryllis had used to get to the camp that was below them, as if there was something important about it that he had determined from the time he had spent looking at the roads, though Amaryllis really didn't care what he had to say at this point, "One of the last shipments we were able to capture mentioned that there should be one or two more coming from the east, additional deliveries to Whiterun, and with the war going on we'll be able to capture them before they arrive at their destinations. Rodulf, I need you and your partner to keep a close eye on the road for the next few hours and delay the cart when it gets near us, so that way we'll have the chance to join you and liberate the goods that the merchants are bringing to Whiterun, even if it means killing them like the last group we stopped."

Amaryllis frowned for a moment as she made up her mind, because since it appeared that the leader had more to say to Rodulf, about their plans to harass Whiterun, it gave her an opening that she wasn't expecting, as she could crouch near his backside and raised her dagger, without him noticing what was going on, before she reached up and drew it across his throat without wasting a single moment. That cut off whatever he was going to add to his previous statement as his life faded from his body, which fell onto the wooden platform she was standing on, something that she moved out of the way of before gripping handle of the nearby battleaxe that was on the table, which she lifted into the air for a moment, due to it being made out of steel and not iron, before bringing it down to remove his head, which happened in seconds and let her stuff it into the sack she had brought with her, before she set it off on the side. After that she removed the coin pouch that the bandit leader had attached to his armor and then pulled off the gloves that he was wearing, as they appeared to be enchanted and that meant they might sell for a better price when she entered Whiterun, before turning her attention to the large chest the leader had been sitting near, which just so happened to have a set of unenchanted leather armor, without the helmet inside it. The other items of note inside the chest were the coin pouch that she claimed, which had to have at least two hundred coins in it from the size, a few rings with gems in them, a couple of red, blue, and green potions, and a few gems that weren't like the ones from Embershard Mine, those being a sapphire and emerald, but she took all of it and closed the chest's lid, before packing her loot away, picked up the sack containing the bandit leader's head, and then jumped over the edge of the railing, so she could hover down to the entrance and be on her way.

She was sure that these bandits, without their leader and the watchmen that had been outside, would fall into disarray in the near future and fight among themselves, leading to more casualties and reducing their number as they tried to find a new leader to replace the old one, but that was a problem for another day, as right now she was headed to Whiterun to tell the Jarl and his Steward the good news, and then she could figure out what to do after that.

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