I'm writing this outside the Butcher's secret lair?
I honestly hate using that name, but it's fitting.
I have a feeling we'll be busy, so I'll write as I go so I don't forget anything.
We
got up early and followed the blood trail to here, Hjerim. It was
locked, so we asked around and learned the house's name and that it used
to belong to Friga Shatter-Shield. A guard said that Tova, her mother,
should have the key, and pointed out a house just down the street.
Tova is still very upset, obviously, but she agreed to help. She seemed relieved that I only wanted a key.
At
first glance Hjerim is mostly empty, just some forgotten bottles and
rickety bits of furniture around. In an alcove in the main room we found
a chest. I gave it a once-over and spotted scuff marks on the floor. It
was put here recently, but not locked. Inside I found a bunch of Beware
the Butcher papers and a journal.
I found over twenty of Viola's papers. I'll stick one in here in case I need it.
(Stuck between the pages is a folded piece of paper. It reads:)
Beware the Butcher!
The killer who haunts the streets of Windhelm!
These calamitous times bring out the worst in people, don't become the next victim!
See Viola Giordano if you spot any suspicious behavior.
The journal belongs to The Butcher.
I took a
glance at it and I must have gone pale because the others asked if I was
all right. I was, it's just… Reading it aloud made my stomach drop, and
the others were just as disturbed by it as I was.
He's killing
women and using them for parts. He wrote about stalking Susanna so he
could use her "exquisite tendons" in… His work.
Our talk about the
journal was interrupted by Septim barking in the back room. There, we
found two tall wardrobes. One was perfectly normal with some old clothes
abandoned in it. Septim was scratching and whining at the door of the
other one.
We checked the outside before we opened it. Valdimar
(he's the tallest) noticed brackets on top. It's nailed to the wall. I
opened it up and it was empty. Septim started to growl and Erandur
pulled him back so we could investigate.
Lydia reached past me and
knocked on the back of the wardrobe. It was hollow. I stepped back to
let her look for the latch, and while she did she explained that wealthy
homes sometimes have secret rooms to hide in in case of an emergency,
or just to store valuables.
Soon the back of the wardrobe swung open like a door, and inside is the Butcher's… Workshop.
How the Nine could allow this, I have no idea.
The
room is small, and in it there's some shelves, a chair, candles, and
some kind of altar with body parts on it. There's also a bunch of human
remains, and we found another journal.
That one has a - Divines, I really don't want to use this word, but… There's a "recipe" in here for… A person, I think.
I
read it aloud to the others, who had joined me, and they were shocked. I
took a moment to examine the altar, which is covered in strange
markings that look like they were made with blood. I honestly don't know
anything about it, so I asked Erandur and Valdimar to take a look. I
might have a knack for it, but they know more about magic than I do.
Valdimar
recoiled when he got a closer look at the markings, and cursed under
his breath. I couldn't see Erandur's face, but he was nodding to himself
while he looked closely at them, then put his hand over his heart like
he does when he prays. They explained to Lydia and I that the Butcher's
messing with Old, Dark Magic. The type that uses hair and blood.
Valdimar said you could hardly call it magic. It's more like a force of
nature. Erandur called the Butcher a fool for thinking he could control
something like that. If he got it right and it worked, it would go badly
for him, and maybe for all of Windhelm.
Lydia was very quiet
through all this, and then asked if she was crazy for thinking that the
Butcher is "building" a woman for himself?
I'm pretty sure we were
all thinking it, but hearing it put so plainly made me shiver. Erandur
used the word "nauseating" and I think that's the best way to describe
the whole thing.
We kept looking, and upstairs we found more
Butcher papers from Viola. Under a pile of them we found a strange
amulet. It's got a carving of a skull (I think? It's really worn down)
on it made of jade, eight sides, and it's surrounded with ebony.
None of us knows what it means. We'll ask around to see if anyone knows what it is.
I
need to tell the guards about the secret room, but I want to find
Viola, first. Her name is all over this, and I know everyone says she's
just a busybody, but someone might have actually told her something.
She's worth asking.
-/-/-/-/-/-
At the Cornerclub for a late
lunch. It took a while to find Viola, and she doesn't really know
anything about the Butcher. Still, I showed her the journals and the
amulet. She suggested that I talk to Calixto, the first person I talked
to at Susanna's murder. He has a museum in town and collects strange
artifacts. He might know something about the amulet. She also suggested
that Wuunfurth the (not)Unliving might be the Butcher.
Not a bad
guess, honestly. I asked a few guards while we looked for Voila, and
they suggested the same thing. Apparently he's got a bit of a
reputation. People have suspected he's a necromancer for a while.
We're going to talk to Wuunfurth, but first we're going to Calixto.
-/-/-/-/-/-
Having dinner at Candlehearth Hall. We're going to relax and conserve our energy.
Tonight we hunt the Butcher.
Windhelm really is a maze. I hope it doesn't slow us down! Finding Calixto's was hard enough.
We
ran into a Dunmer woman I've seen at Candlehearth Hall talking with a
boy named Grimvar. They were talking about Aventus Aretino, the boy
everyone says is trying to contact the Dark Brotherhood. The woman told
him it was nonsense, but when Grimvar said he was going to ask Aventus
out to play she stopped him. She said the house was cursed.
I
asked her about it and she said the rumors were true. The child really
was trying to contact the Dark Brotherhood. She explained that his
mother passed away recently and he was sent to an orphanage, but then
came back. Sometimes she can hear chanting coming from the house.
No
one's checked on him. Poor kid - I know how it is. I'll poke my head in
when we're done with this Butcher business and see if he's all right.
The
lady directed us to Calixto's, which wasn't far down the street. When
we walked in he welcomed us to "Calixto's House of Curiosities" and
offered a tour for two gold pieces.
I decided to take his little tour and see if he really was as knowledgeable as people say he is.
Interestingly enough, the first display on his tour was a set of ancient Nord embalming tools.
They're very clean, but so was everything else he had on display.
At
the end of the tour I asked him how he found his "treasures" and he
explained that he and his sister adventured all over Tamriel to collect
strange artifacts after their parents died. She passed away, so he
settled in Whiterun and opened the museum. I showed him the amulet and
he called it the Wheelstone. He said it was an old symbol of the power
of Windhelm, and that it was traditionally carried by the court mage. He
offered to buy it off me for 500 septims, but I declined.
I
pointed out that the court mage should have it, and he said that
Wuunfurth had no use for it. Besides, he was rumored to be a
necromancer. When I said I was keeping it, he insisted that only a
collector would care for it, and asked us to leave.
He didn't seem too happy about me keeping it, which made me more determined to talk to Wuunfurth.
The
others didn't think it was a good idea to talk with the mage, so I told
them about Madame Talia back in the Capital as we walked to the palace.
Everyone said she was a witch who murdered her husband, and at first I
believed them. She definitely looked the part. She only wore
black, she was all hunched over, walked with a cane, she had a raspy
voice, wild hair, and her eyes were milky white.
In reality, she
was just a very old, semi-retired alchemist whose husband was careless
in the lab. She wore black because she was in mourning. She had a bend
in her spine from being stooped over her workbench for decades, so of
course she needed a cane. The vapors and smoke from the compounds she
mixed roughened her voice and turned her nearly blind. How could she be
expected to do her hair when she could hardly see? She'd pay us in
sweets for bringing her what ingredients we could find, or for running
errands for her. She's who got me interested in alchemy, all those years
ago.
We knew her for less than a year, but she felt like family, at the end.
The others got my point.
Besides,
we've been to see Wuunfurth before. He was just a VERY old mage, and
someone of his skill would have no problem raising a zombie. Hells, I
could do it! Why would he need to construct a body to raise it from the
dead?
We went in to see Wuunfurth, and luckily got in unnoticed as
we usually did. We found him in his chambers, having a snack. I asked
him about the necromancy rumors, and he was more than a bit angry about
it. He's a member in good standing of the College of Winterhold, after
all!
I showed him the amulet, and he said that it was the
Necromancer's Amulet, so I was on the right track thinking necromancy
was involved. Turns out, he'd been trying to solve these murders as
well, so I showed him the journals.
He flipped through them and
said that he had an idea of when the next murder would take place. It
seems they're carefully timed. Something to do with the stars or
whatever.
Old Magic.
He said that the next murder would probably happen tomorrow night, in the Stone Quarter.
I
told him we'd be on the lookout, and we came back here to rest and wait
for nightfall. I know he said tomorrow, but I don't want to take any
chances.
-/-/-/-/-/-
CALIXTO IS THE BUTCHER!
We went
out and wandered through the cemetery, then checked the market. There, I
saw Calixto pull a knife from his belt and go to stab a woman in the
back!
I set him on fire, and he turned on us.
He was dead in seconds. I think we all got one good hit in, including Septim.
I have no idea who the lady was. It was dark and she ran as soon as the fighting started, so at least she's all right.
I
searched Calixto's body and found a key to his house, among other
things. We were going to tell Jorlief first, but it was almost midnight.
So, even though we're all dead tired, we decided to check his house and
see if there was any more proof that he was the killer.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
We found it. Even thinking about it makes my skin crawl.
Another
journal, in a chest in the loft, along with a pile of embalming tools.
In it he wrote to his dead sister, Lucilla, and said he would "hold her
soon".
Yeah. He was killing women so he could build his sister a new body, then put her spirit back in it.
We
all looked at each other for a second after I read it aloud, then Lydia
asked if anyone else felt like Calixto… REALLY liked his sister?
Again, Lydia speaks the words we would rather not say.
If
you've read this far you know I'm a crook, so of course I stole all I
could from the place. There were a lot of alchemy ingredients that would
just go to waste otherwise!
I also took some of his trinkets, even though I'm pretty sure they're rubbish. Why not?
But for now, sleep. We'll talk to Jorlief in the morning and let him know what happened.
Morndas, 4th of Frostfall, 4E 201
We're on our way to Solitude. It's hard to write in the carriage, so I'll try to keep this short.
This
morning we slept in a little late, but went straight to Jorlief as soon
as we were done with breakfast. He was shocked to learn the true
identity of the Butcher, but said that Calixto was always "A little
strange."
Funny how killers are always "a little strange" or
"quiet and polite." You never hear of anyone saying, "I'm not surprised.
They were sick in the head!"
Anyway, we didn't get a reward, but Jorlief did say that the guards would be more… Polite to me from now on.
I'll take it. At least there's no murderer on the streets.
We
huddled around the fire they keep burning outside of the palace to talk
about our next move. We're carrying around a lot of things that I don't
want to sell, like books, dragon bones and scales, among other things.
So, we decided to go back to the Manor and unload before we did anything
else.
We could use a bit of rest, too. It'll be nice to spend a
few days relaxing and working on the house. I haven't read all of the
books I've gathered. Maybe one of them has a bit about Sarthaal.
Still, before we left I decided to check on the Aretino boy.
At
least, I would have, except the door to his house was locked. Normally I
wouldn't let that stop me, but it was broad daylight and there were
guards and other people about.
I didn't want to wait around until nightfall (again) so we left.
On
the way out we met a little girl selling flowers. I bought all she had,
and learned her name was Sofie. Her mother died when she was little,
and her father was a Stormcloak. He left one day and never came back.
I swear, the Divines are trying to get me to adopt a child.
This is the second orphan I've met in the snow! I know there's an orphanage! Why don't they go there?
I need to get back to Whiterun soon and see if I can fix up Breezehome.
Well, we left, and while we walked across the bridge to the stables Lydia said she could hear the gears turning again.
She's not wrong.
We
went to the stables, and as I walked up to the carriage driver to see
about hiring him an ice dragon swooped down from the sky!
It
wasn't too hard a fight, luckily. A lot of us use Fire magic and it
landed right by Lydia, which was a mistake. There was also another group
of adventurers passing through, and they jumped in to fight the dragon,
along with the Windhelm guards!
The guards whispered amongst
themselves after the dragon's soul hit me. Septim used to bark his head
off when that happened, but this time he came up to me and let me lean
on him so I didn't fall down.
Good boy.
He really deserves a
quieter life than this. I know I'll miss him, but his one ear is all
notched and he's missing patches of fur (it'll grow back, but it looks
awful) and his muzzle's got more than a few scars on it.
He didn't look like this when he found us.
Right
now he's on our feet in the back of the carriage. The driver only had
two blankets, so we have to share again. I'm going to have some soup,
then huddle up and try to nap.
Tirdas, 5th of Frostfall, 4E 201
Thank the Divines for a quiet day.
I slept terribly. I
fell asleep in the carriage and woke up when we stopped at Solitude
early this morning. It wasn't even sunup when we arrived, and we took
our time walking up the hill to the city gates.
Nothing was open
when we got there except for the Winking Skeever, so we enjoyed a
leisurely breakfast while we waited for Beirand to open his forge. We'd
found a few random weapons and bits of armor that we'd missed selling
back in Windhelm, so those needed to go. I also wanted to get some steel
and iron ingots to use back at the house.
It was a quick visit
with Beirand - He and Sayma are doing well - and we stopped in at the
fletcher to get some decent arrows for Lydia.
I was about to go down the long stairway to the water's edge when Lydia asked if I had something to do at the Bard's College?
I'd completely forgotten about the book, so I asked them to stay by the steps while I ran over and handed it off.
The
Bard's college is huge, and beautiful. I was just wandering around,
looking for Giraud Gemane, and spent a moment listening in on a class.
The teachers are strict, but I'm not surprised. Bards from Skyrim
are in big demand all over the Empire, and everyone says they're the
best of the best.
While I was wondering how well Erandur did here
as a student, an older Altmer came up to me and asked if I was
interested in joining the college. I declined, and he introduced
himself.
It was Viarmo, the Headmaster. The same person that
kicked Erandur out of the college. He asked what I was doing there, and I
explained I was just dropping in for a delivery. He said that Giraud
tended to sleep late, but should be up momentarily.
He excused himself, and then I heard some banging on a door from down a side hallway.
It
was hard not to laugh when a sleepy-looking man came up a few moments
later, adjusting his hat. I handed over the book from Adonato and he was
surprised at how short it is. Still, he was excited to read it, so I
accepted a delivery fee and went on my way.
I met back up with the others, and we left for here.
I'd
almost forgotten how sharp that first dip in the water is! It nearly
knocked the wind out of me, but I managed to get to the other side
without freezing to death. The trip through the swamp was quiet besides a
pair of frostbite spiders, but they were no problem.
The house
was fine, and we all took a moment to dry off and warm up around the
fire. Septim flopped down and promptly fell asleep.
Once we'd
gotten all of our extra things put away and somewhat organized, Lydia
helped me finish up a few more bookcases for the library. Valdimar did a
bit of cooking, and Erandur stood next to the fire, chatting with him
while he worked.
The others just relaxed or did small chores
around the house while I spent the rest of the day sorting through books
for the library.
Exciting, I know, but it needs done and I'm looking forward to having a well-organized collection.
I
did take breaks to work on getting the cellar and back room together.
Downstairs, I got a few practice dummies put up and a set of shelves for
some shrines. I'll have to ask Erandur on how to get an amulet of Mara
so I can build a shrine to her down here.
I also got a forge and a
washbasin set up, which is good. I'll need it so I can wash off after
smithing or practicing, but down here's private enough we can take
baths. The forge makes it nice and toasty, so it ought to be
comfortable, too.
And even though it's early, I'm going to get some sleep.
I ran out of logs (again) so tomorrow I'll have to take another swim and order more from the mill.
Lydia
just reminded me! She asked what my plan was, and when I told her about
the mill, she said to not forget the people up at Stonehills. He said
he might have some ingots for me if I delivered his message, and I could
definitely use them.
Worth a look, at least.
Middas, 6th of Frostfall, 4E 201
All right, there's definitely something up with Valdimar. Lydia and I are sure of it. But I'll get to that later.
First, the mine was a bust, but at least I got some lumber ordered and we discovered something interesting nearby.
More like re-discovered.
Not
too far from the house is a ruin next to a campsite, with two dead
bandits laying around. I know we stopped by it before, but we were on
our way somewhere and just took a moment to loot the bodies before we
went on our way.
It was right in our path from the mine to the
house, so of course I peeked at it again. I didn't open the door, but as
I looked around I heard Lydia ask the others if they heard gears
turning. She swore she could hear gears turning.
I shot her a look and pointed out a simple fact that's been gnawing at my brain for the past few days.
We're getting short on gold.
Now,
we're not as short as we've been, not by a long shot! Besides, I still
haven't been to Sayma's to sell off all the extra books I have or some
of the random gems and stuff I've picked up.
But we are running low, and I can't believe I'm saying that when I still have over two thousand septims on me.
We had more before we started running around in Windhelm. A lot more.
I
don't regret solving the murders, but staying at Candlehearth Hall for
as long as we did and ordering most of our meals put a dent in our
funds.
Lydia said she knew that, and was just waiting for me to catch up.
I have a sneaking suspicion she knows exactly how much gold I have in my bag.
Valdimar
cut in and said the ruins were called Ustengrav. He'd grown up hearing
legends about it, and promised to fill us all in once we got back here.
It was getting late, and we were all getting hungry, anyway.
I'd
managed to get a few deer while we were running around, so I made us
some venison stew while Valdimar told us about Ustengrav.
There's
not much to it, really. Ustengrav doesn't look like much, but it's the
burial place of Jurgen Windcaller, one of the most powerful Tongues of
his era, founder of the Greybeads and builder of High Hrothgar. It's
clearly fallen into disrepair, and now bandits occasionally use the tomb
as a hideout.
I was curious about Tongues, so while we ate Lydia
explained that most people have the ability to learn Shouts and
therefore become Tongues. Nords in particular try to because they
believe that their voice and their breath are their "life essence".
Valdimar said this was because the Nords believe Kyne (Kynareth)
breathed them into existence at the top of the Throat of the World.
I had no idea! No wonder Nords value Bards so much.
But this is where it gets interesting.
Erandur
laughed a bit, and said something like, "So, as the Dunmer were born
from the ash and fire on Red Mountain, you Nords came from the wind and
ice on Mount Hrothgar."
I thought that was a little poetic, and
said as much. Lydia nodded and hummed with approval into her mug of ale,
but Valdimar was quiet. He and Erandur were sitting next to each other.
He was staring at Erandur like he'd suddenly grown antlers.
Erandur
must've felt him staring, and turned to look at Valdimar. He looked
uncomfortable at being stared at so hard (Anyone would. Valdimar has
bright amber/green eyes, and they can be a little… Intense) but all he
could do was ask, "What?"
Valdimar said, very slowly, that he'd
said almost the exact same thing, a long time ago. He kept staring, and
Erandur kept shifting in his seat. I shot Lydia a look to make sure she
was seeing this.
I'll admit, I don't know what we were seeing, but we were seeing something!
Erandur
looked like he wanted to pull his hood over his head (I'd convinced him
to push it back, but he absolutely refused to take off his scarf) but
he managed to ask, "And?"
Valdimar gave him a big, warm smile -
The first normal Valdimar Thing he'd done in this little exchange - and
said that he was glad someone else had made the connection! He gave
Erandur a little nudge with his mug like he does sometimes. Erandur did
his nervous laugh and said, "Of course."
I could tell Erandur was
struggling with the situation (whatever it was), so I asked Lydia if she
would help me carry some buckets of water to the cellar for a bath. I
smelled like the swamp water we'd been swimming through, and I didn't
want to get that smell on my sheets.
That seemed to break the
spell. She agreed to help, Valdimar said he'd take care of the dishes,
and Erandur excused himself to do his evening prayers.
Obviously
we talked once we were in the cellar - Lydia washed up, too - but we
couldn't figure out what was going on. We feel like it has something to
do with the College of Winterhold, though. Or maybe not the College
itself, it might be just Winterhold, but still. Something BIG happened
in Valdimar's past, I just know it!
I just need to figure out how to make him talk.
Turdas, 7th of Frostfall, 4E 201
Tonight we're in Dragon Bridge, at the Four Shields.
Ustengrav
was disappointing, but not a complete waste of time. We set out bright
and early, all ready to fight out way through a horde of draugr. Inside,
there's a stairwell that goes down a little ways, and then it opens
into a large chamber with some pillars. We saw a pair of Necromancers
controlling maybe a half dozen dead bandits. The bandits had pickaxes,
and were digging at spots along the wall.
Of course, they attacked
once they saw us, but it wasn't a hard fight. Taking out the magicians
first made it easier. They had a decent amount of loot on them and some
supplies, so we were able to load ourselves up with sellable goods
before taking a look around.
Turns out there'd been a cave-in at
some point, and any tunnels leading further into the tomb were blocked.
Those necromancers had the dead bandits digging out the passageway down
for them.
Damn.
Well, like I said, it wasn't a complete bust, so we went back to the house to think.
I
can't sit still and think to save my life, apparently, so Lydia helped
me build some weapon racks for the front of the house. We chatted about
what could be done, and she said that I actually had quite a list of
things we could do. I couldn't recall many, but she said that it was at
least four times that.
I didn't believe her, but then Erandur
started listing things off from where he'd been doing some alchemy in
the main room. Valdimar joined in - He'd been going over the stitching
on his armor at the table - and then Lydia kept going!
I admitted that all right, they had a point, I had a lot I could do. All I had to do was pick one.
Since they apparently
remember things better than I do, I asked what they thought might have
the best reward while I started loading up my pack with goods for
Sayma's.
They said that since we were going to Solitude, we might
as well start there. The biggest prize was probably going to come from
the Palace itself, and Falk Firebeard did say there were some bandits
that needed taken care of in a cave somewhere near Dragon Bridge.
So, once we crossed over to Solitude and finished with our trading, we set off to find the bandits.
I
didn't know exactly where they were, just a vague direction, so we
spent some time wandering around the mountain where we thought they
were. A dragon circled us, but was thankfully focused elsewhere.
We found something that looked like it used to be a shrine, and, at the end of the road, the Thalmor Embassy.
As
soon as we realized what it was, we turned around and went back down
the mountain. I know Lydia and I didn't leave any survivors at
Northwatch Keep, but I don't want to take any chances. There's another
road leading to the top, so we'll try that tomorrow.
It started to
rain, so even though it's early, we decided to come here and pack it
in. No sense getting soaked through, then going up a snowy mountaintop
to freeze to death while we try to find a cave.
At least we made out all right with what we got from Ustengrav and the extra books.
I
do want to talk with Valdimar, but if it's something upsetting I don't
want to do it here with a bunch of people around. Besides, he's clearly
having a good time. He and Lydia are regaling Erandur and the other
patrons with tales of what we saw in the Dwemer ruins.
I should start paying attention, though, because I know I didn't fight off THAT many Dwarven metal spiders.
I'm still keeping to the gameplay, but get ready for some HEADCANONS.
I do like letting everyone have downtime though. I'll knit at the
computer while the game runs and everyone just chills around the manor,
which is when "the plot" happens. I mean, who wouldn't want a quiet
evening in after all that?
Would you like to see art of the story? If so, how?