Miraad of Mirrors

Heart of the Gods

They emerged out into rubble and ruins. It still appeared that they were in dwemer ruins, and a guard dressed in green burst through 2 doors. "There are no guards in all of Skyrim that dress in green. I would know." Ashira commented. Ashira's idea of fun was to purposefully get busted by the local guards, get tossed in prison, and sneak out undetected. She'd visited every prison in Skyrim.

"Well I'll be! Tis said when the earth shook in Amber Creek that the Traveler would arrive! Looks like 3 travelers!" He beckoned to them. They emerged through a cave entrance out into the bright sunshine. The land looked to be in the peak of autumn, the trees in an array of splendid hues, flashy reds, and bright yellow, burnt orange littering the ground. "I must take you to Jarl Agnar of Amber Creek. Tis not far from here." He informed them in his strange accent. If these people were Nordic, then they were a strange sort of Nord indeed. He opened a set of enormous gates entering the town of Amber Creek. It looked as though some of the town had just been ravished and burned to the ground. Some wounded khajiit traders sat on the side of the grass and Ashira drifted off towards them to gain information. The place was a spread out town, complete with a large inn, orc stronghold, blacksmith, several traders with separate buildings, even a chapel for local worship with a hall for the deceased. A few homes lingered, but most people lived above their shops. The place was all but abandoned, most people having either fled or killed. The Jarl's Hall was off to itself, a long stairway leading up to the front doors swathed in green cloth.

"I should go in front." Dremora stated.

"Fine by me. I prefer to remain hidden in the shadows." TssVar bowed her head. Ashira came up behind them.

"They were attacked by an unusually large number of bandits, looking for a daedric artifact." Ashira told them what she had heard. It was nothing they didn't already know. They entered the jarl's hall; it was poor and simple, with only a couple of servants milling about. The guard leaned down and whispered in the Jarl's ear. He was dressed in simple furs, tattoos swirling around his bare torso, his beaded beard in knots.

"Jarl Agnar, it has come to the dremora attention that the daedric artifact known as the Heart of the Gods is hidden on this island somewhere. I have been sent here with my associates to help retrieve it." Dremora told him.

"Ah, this is good, I think." The Jarl beamed at them. "First we must open trade with Skyrim, the trade route at the coast has been blocked for some reason, and we cannot survive without supplies. We must rebuild after the attack." He sent them all the way across the island to the south, to the Falskaar docks. There they discovered the captain Wulf, the lighthouse keeper abed with an injury whilst out gathering Svengarberries for his wife Freya for their anniversary. Of course the dragonborn helped out so she could make her rare pie, and Ashira made them all stay and sample it, begging the recipe from the woman. Wulf promised them a cheap flat out rate of 100 septims any time they wanted to travel to and back from Skyrim, his dock was conveniently located at Dawnstar.

On their way back they discovered some giant mudcrabs on a beach that had been altered to unusual size by the magic spreading out into the island from the Heart of the Gods. They returned to Amber Creek and Jarl Agnar had them go and fetch his house carls, 2 brothers who lived by the river in a cabin. Then they had to journey to Bailun Priory and collect Brother Thorlogh. They all sat down to a meager feast to discuss their next move. Brother Thorlogh informed them the Heart of the Gods was kept in the Heart Chamber, on the top of Mt. Kaltrom; in Vizemundsted, the tallest peak in Falskaar. It had used to be a library. They had to collect 5 keys to get in. Their sworn enemy and leader of the bandits was Yngvarr. He had 2 keys, and they had a key and were trying to gain the others.

They explored Hjalmor armory in search of bandits and discovered that Yngvarr and his men would be moving on another town called Borvald. Jarl Agnar was frantic with worry for Jarl Valfred and the key he possessed. They traveled immediately to the other end of the island, towards the east, hoping they would beat the bandits in time. Borvald was a well defense placed town, high up on a plateau, unobtainable except by the only road that was patrolled by Borvald guards. There were no guards this time and they were greeted by a surly looking fellow at the gates. They asked to speak with Jarl Valfred about an upcoming bandit attack, and they were led through the streets. The town was near deserted, worn and old, used looking. The wood was shabby, the cloth threadbare. The marketplace was strangely empty, free of the usual hubbub and banter.

In the middle of meeting with Jarl Valfred, the bandits struck. Hundreds of cutthroats swarmed everywhere, burning buildings with their torches, swords brandished high. The smell of smoke and ash drifted under the doors and carried the coppery scent of blood and death. TssVar would have liked to linger and savor the scent but was urged by the others to rush to safety. They went through a secret tunnel in the walls of the palace, and exited out on top of a ridiculously high waterfall. Jarl Valfred ushered them to jump, saying he would hold the bandits back to allow their escape. He grabbed a chain from around his neck and thrust it into Dremora's hands. "Here. This is what he's after. Take it back to Jarl Agnar, it's the Key of Shelter." Before any of them could say a word, he turned and rushed back into the palace.

Ashira eyed the water pool far below them. It was several dragon lengths down. If there wasn't a pool of water below them, they probably wouldn't have survived. Even Dremora paused and took a breath in at the height. TssVar grinned with pleasure, her kind loved the water. She took off at a dead run and dived head first, straight as an arrow and disappeared into the water with barely a ripple. "Damn lizard." Dremora muttered to herself, and cannonballed into the cascading water. Ashira shuddered, she wasn't quite as fond as water, being a feline. Sighing, she dove quickly, resolving to get it over with, exiting the water, shaking water droplets from her whiskers. TssVar still hadn't emerged yet, and Dremora had used a heating spell to dry herself, much to Ashira's annoyance at still being dripping wet. TssVar finally broke the surface, and left the water as if she were one with it, it turned out her shadowscale armor was made of actual argonian shadowscales, water repellant among other things.

They made the journey back to Amber Creek and told Jarl Agnar the news. Once again they sat at the measly table of hard bread and stale ale and discussed their next move. Ashira wanted to know how Falskaar came to be in possession of the Heart of the Gods. Brother Thorlogh said that once upon a time Falskaar was a dyeing land, cold, inhospitable. Ahkrinviing, a great dragon gave his heart to a brave nord warrior called Olav to make Falskaar warmer, enabling them to grow crops and flourish.

Jarl Agnar bade his wife, Jalmas to come forward and hand over her most prized necklace. She reluctantly handed it over, a confused look on her face. He fiddled with it for a moment, and slid back a piece, revealing a key hidden. So they had 2 keys, Shelter and Strength. Yngvarr had 2, the keys of Leadership and Wealth. There was one left, the key of Wisdom, which was located at Hjorgunnar Manor guarded by court wizards.

They sent the dragonborn to retrieve the last key. It was easy enough of course, and didn't take more than a better part of a day. On the return trip it seemed Yngvarr had anticipated the dragonborn move to retrieve the other key and was moving to attack Amber Creek in their absence. They hurried their pace and took a shortcut in the woods to cut the bandits off. They got lucky and blocked most of them from the defenseless town that had only just begun to rebuild. With most of the men defeated, they rushed back into Amber Creek to find Jarl Agnar and his 2 house carls duking it out with Yngvarr.

"If you really have the blood of a warrior, meet me at the Heart Chamber. We'll settle things there." He panted, and ran off into the darkness. Dremora offered to run him down, Ashira even noticed TssVar eyeing the darkness like she could slip away and slit his throat and be done with it before anyone noticed a thing. They decided to take Yngvarr up on his offer and confront him, take his keys, and activate the Heart of the Gods themselves.