Chapter 1: An Ordinary Mercenary Contract, Part 1
Absolutely Nothing to See Here
Excerpt from Official Report, authored by Zeldava Ellis.
I swear to the Gods, if another Captain of the Guard offers me an easy guard duty contract, I’m going to fucking slap them.
Is it just the bold new trend to lure a mercenary company in with the promise of brainless guard duty and then drop a fucking monster on them? No? Just us. Neat.
Well, at least there weren’t any sexy water nymphs for my ass-wipe of a boyfriend to grope, or purple goo full of daedric whispers to deal with. So that was a nice change of pace.
Fuck, I should really get into the report shouldn’t I?
The day, like most of our contracts, had started better than most.
I was able to give Aesla a dose of the cure for the Sleepless affliction before it was too late, so at least that burden on my conscious is a little less heavy. Azazel was there as well, before we needed to depart, which meant I was able to pull him aside to discuss his promotion. He accepted, thank the gods, so Expeditions has our first Champion.
I just hope it takes him awhile to figure out he’s more qualified for this than I am.
There’s a scratched out sentence in the margins that reads “Wait, Valtire, if Azazel did figure that out and usurp me as a council member, would that mean I don’t have to write these damn reports anymore?”
Once that was out of the way, the members assembled in the Expeditions Branch. I’ll admit, I was pleased to see Verrjord and Mercer, in addition to Azazel. With myself and the words ‘piece of shit boyfriend’ are crossed out Lucien, that meant Expeditions outnumbered the Investigations branch members for once. As usual though, Ascela, Ina, and Servita proved invaluable, continuing to remind me that Valtire was right and I was wrong, a fact I swear I’ll get over at some point.
With everyone assembled, I went over the contract. Guard duty, stand around, look menacing, arrive early and leave when the next shift arrived. Easy. We had a portal stone, a time to arrive, and exact details on what we needed to do. It was so nice to work with true professionals, instead of the Constable of a backwater fishing village in the Rift.
I hadn’t even needed to scout ahead! I was so sure I wasn’t going to regret that. Right up until I stepped through the portal.
You know you’re in for a good time when you arrive on a beautiful coast, inhale deeply, and smell blood instead of salt water.
Azazel and I smelled it first. I wasted no time on banter or a head-count: we had to get to the lighthouse, fast. I’d have liked to think maybe the smell of blood was coming from somewhere else, and our day would still be leisurely patrols, but the light at the top of the lighthouse was out, and I don’t believe in coincidences. By the time we arrived though, all hope of a good day had vanished into the breeze gently blowing in from the sea.
Though, to be fair, our day wasn’t going to be nearly as bad as the poor bastard on the steps.
Azazel, Mercer and Servita went around to check the side of the lighthouse as I crouched down next to the corpse, Ascela, Verr, Ina, and Lucy sticking close to me. The man had been dismembered, badly, by large sweeping claws, the kind of claws that take men’s arms off in a single swipe. I shivered, imagining how much bigger than me this thing must have been.
Ascela came to the same conclusion at nearly the same time I did, if not before by how fast she stood up. “It appears we have a big monster on our hands! These are claw markings, and they are quite large! Perhaps large enough to even sever someone in a single swing!" There was a grumpy tone in her voice, "And they must pay for making the air smell like not flowers."
The others must have found more bodies, as their voices drifted to me from around the side of the building.
“Looks like claws,” Mercer said. “What kinds of claws do you think, Azazel?”
"Not a werewolf's claw." Azazel said. "I'm sure you already knew this. Must've come from the sky... though I doubt it's raining corpses in Rivenspire.”
“Yeah, but what has claws that big and doesn't leave tracks?” Mercer asked. “Something conjured?"
“A ghost? A careful bird? A summoned Atronach? Who knows!" Ascela had caught onto the conversation around the corner and, clearly demonstrating her lack of attention to my requests to keep her voice down, shouted her reply to Mercer.
I winced from the sudden loud noise, thankful Ascela was putting some distance between me and her and heading to the Lighthouse. Verr and Ina followed, inspecting the door.
“It's locked..." Ina said, as the group by the door went about the task of trying to get it open. My eyes followed Azazel, Mercer, and Servita’s movements as they looked for tracks.
“Wait, there aren't tracks, but these stones are cracked. Something jumped victim to victim...” Mercer’s words trailed off as he crouched down, inspecting the dirt. “The ground is soft here... A footprint. The beast walks on its toes. Four big claws.”
“Huzzah!” Verr’s shout of excitement pulled me back to the crew by the door, just in time to see him smash his fist against the door. I’ll give him this, the fact the door shook as much as it did was impressive.
Nearly impressive enough to make up for how dumb it is to punch a fucking door. Of course, wherever there’s a stupid fucking idea, there’s always…
"Can I try?" Lucy asked, excitedly making his way towards the stairs. I couldn’t have a look of pure contempt on my face at this point, so I settled for at least a solid second of eye rolling.
I was glad at least one person standing by the door had their wits about them. Ina sighed with annoyance, adding, “the lock... could be... picked..."
“Yeah or we could try to knock it down again. You down, Verr?"
Do I even need to tag that with who said it? Yeah, of course it was fucking Lucy. Barely waiting for the words to leave his mouth, he slammed his shoulder into the door, bouncing off it and falling into Verr.
Gods, where the fuck was the guy I started dating? Could I have him back instead of whatever ignorant jackass decided to inhabit his armor?
"I don't think... hitting the door... will open it..." Ina, thank you.
There was a scream from inside the lighthouse, likely a result of an armored jackass slamming into it with all the force he could muster.
“Someone's inside!” Mercer yelled. The three of them rejoined us, Azazel drawing his weapon. I stood from my place next to the corpse, concern on my face and a hand gripped on my weapon.
“You hear that? Doesn’t sound like the fun kind of screams.” Servita said, ever helpful.
The door wasn’t responding to punching, and whoever was inside wasn’t letting us in. Ina tried to open the door by melting the lock off, though it took a second blast of magic from Ascela to get it open. Ina pushed the door open, and Servita walked in right after her.
“Hi there, pest control! Where’s the infestation, ma’am?” Servita asked, chuckling.
I’m pretty fucking positive the woman inside would have preferred if we never came in, or at least kept the pests outside with us.
If the exterior of the lighthouse was a disaster, the inside was a horror show.
A man lay in several pieces on the floor, his face frozen in horror as his blood soaked into the carpet. At first glance, there was no one inside who could have been screaming. Mercer stepped through the large arch at the back of the lighthouse, looking into the room beyond as everyone else fanned out, inspecting the room with the corpse.
I’ll admit, I have little to no fucking clue how things got from us walking into a room with a corpse to nearly terrifying the widow of said corpse, but here we fucking are.
My attention was pulled from the fake-looking claw marks when Lucy’s yelling rang out.
“I said who are you?” Lucy’s voice was aggressive, pulling at that red in my head and clanging every alarm bell I had. “Why are you hiding? Do you actually want me to kill you? Because I will.”
I was already on my feet, but my steps turned to a run when the woman screamed between her sobs. “Just end it then! I don’t want to be here without him!"
Mercer said something to disarm the situation. So did Ascela and Ina. I’m sure they deserve some commendation for standing up to a big man in excessive armor with a fuck-off sized great sword. Honestly, I wish I could remember what they said, cause it was probably better than what I did.
The advantage to Lucy wearing far too much fucking armor is that there’s so many good fucking places to grab him. My hands found purchase on his shoulder places and I pulled, hard. I… am shocked I didn’t do anything worse, because the red had nearly swallowed me whole.
“Back the fuck up before I make you regret it.” My words were a snarl.
Lucy stumbled back towards me, looking at me and speaking with the kind of indignant tone you hear from pompous assholes who think they’re in right. “Hey! Sorry if I'm agitated. We're surrounded by dead bodies and she isn't answering questions? What if SHE did it?"
“That was MY HUSBAND you MONSTER! How fucking DARE you?!" Her sobbing was intensified by her fury. "You'll all burn in Oblivion for this!"
“We didn't do anything to him, doesn't mean we won't do anything to you though.” Lucy was laughing.
Fucking.
Laughing.
Gods I’m glad I wear plating on my elbows. It felt so fucking good to slam my elbow into his chest and knock him backwards. “Speak again, bitch, I fucking dare you.”
The next section is added in addendum, before the report continues.
Valtire, Aestaril, Bakes. I’m going to include what happened next, as I’m not proud of how I handled it and accept any disciplinary actions you feel are necessary.
But I get it. Regardless of my conflicted feelings on him and our relationship, Lucien needs to go. The next chance I get to convene a hearing, I’m formally asking for his immediate termination as a member of this Company. I can’t have him fucking with our chances to get work for our members, regardless of how I feel about him.
I apologize I couldn’t come to this conclusion sooner.
The report continues.
He was still laughing, giggling to himself like a fucking child. All I could think about, even as Ascela and Mercer tried to comfort the woman, was that I was watching all our chances to establish a foothold in Rivenspire ripping themselves to pieces before my very eyes. Every laugh felt like a nail in the Company’s coffin, and I lost it.
“You're done in here,” I’m shocked my words came out in any kind of human voice. “I'm sorry ma'am for my dick of an associate. We’re not here to kill you, I swear. Someone please explain what’s going on to her before I dock ALL of your pay.” I grabbed Lucy by the shoulder plate, dragging him out of the room. On the way out, I passed Ina, preparing to show the widow her husband’s dead head. “Put down that fucking head, Ina.”
If Lucy weren’t wearing plate armor, I’d have fucking thrown him out of the lighthouse. But he was, and people were around, so I settled for a hard shove. I crossed my arms, leaned close to him, and tried very, very hard to keep the word “her” is crossed out with thick ink the animal half of my brain quiet. My efforts to keep it quiet turned the snarl on my face into a grin.
“Lucy, do me a favor. Could you lift your helmet up, just a bit?”
"Are you going to punch me again?" He asked. I shook my head no. “Choke me?” Again, shook my head no. He lifted his helmet up, and I slapped him.
I’ve never slapped someone hard enough that it almost sounded like thunder, but that’s the kind of day I was having. “You can stay out here and keep your damn mouth shut or you can follow me and act like you have a fucking conscious. Your fucking choice.”
I didn’t bother to check which one he chose. I had more important shit to do.
I came back in to a scene that was somehow worse than the one I’d left behind, even without Lucy in it.
I cannot begin to describe why Ina was using the man’s corpse to play the most disgusting jigsaw puzzle I’ve ever seen, but she was, and no one seemed to care, so I chose to ignore it.
"They are." Ascela’s voice carried from the back room, halfway through a conversation with the woman, who seemed much more talkative without Lucy around. "You say you were...tending the flames, yeah? Happen to see anything out of place in the sky or anywhere else? Maybe large with claws?"
"I... I remember hearing something loud,” the woman said, “like a sharp crack, but I thought it might be a thunder clap and ignored it.”
"A sharp crack? What else did you hear?" Azazel asked. Of course, right as he did, I saw Lucy walking back into the room with the woman, and I wondered for a moment if I was going to be a murderer today.
But he stayed quiet, and the woman answered Azazel’s question. “Something like stone grinding right after. It started right as I came downstairs."
“So..." Ascela said, "with all of this information...and if the wounds connect with what is told...then we have a murder and a beast on our hands."
“OW, shite!” Verr’s words pulled my attention to him, in the corner of the room, where he was performing some kind of ritual. His eyes were entirely white as the smeared blood stave on his forehead sizzled and smoked.
“I know... what happened... to him..." Ina said, standing from her work, covered in blood.
I have to admit, it’s fascinating to watch two entirely different rituals come to basically the same conclusion at the same time.
"It was done by a man, not a beast." Verr said, standing, at almost the exact same time as Ina launched into her findings.
"These claw marks... aren't natural... they were made... from a blade..." Ina tried to wipe the blood from her face at least, "Someone... stabbed him... multiple times..."
Azazel seemed to come to some kind of conclusion, staring ponderously at the floor. “I see... Stone grinding... Gargoyles, it's gotta be.”
There was more investigation, as most of us started tearing apart the room, looking for any evidence as to who would have killed the man in the lighthouse and tried to make it look like a gargoyle had done it. At some point Verr slipped away, a fact I’d be made aware of later. Ina found scorch marks on the ground, indicating the use of portal magic, and a scrap of cloth, with a symbol on it that sent shivers down my spine. But surely it was just a coincidence right?
Well… Azazel found a page from a notebook, detailing magic neither he nor I understood. He motioned Ascela over, who read it and cheerily gave us the details.
“This!" Ascela held the parchment out towards Az and I. "Is torn directly from a journal of some kind. It details something about trap beast and experiments on said beasts. Alongside transporting them through pocket dimensions." she sighs, "I think we may have a murder that is linked to a potential Black Market or underground Crime thing.”
“Fuck.”
I’ll admit, I didn’t realize I’d said that out loud until Az and Ascela stared at me with confusion.
“What?” Ascela asked with a quirked eyebrow. “Did I...bring back haunting memories of long past traumas by accident again?"
“I…” My words came slowly. What? You ALL know it’s hard for me to share. Don’t be judging. “You're describing something I thought we'd dealt with already. We being the council."
"What do you mean, Zel?” Azazel’s words felt like an inquisition. “You know what this means?"
No point lying about it anymore. “The Company formed after we routed out a group of monster smugglers, the Craglorn Syndicate. Their methods are... eerily similar to what you're describing Ascela."
I’ll admit, normally getting interrupted bothers me. Here though? I was glad for a distraction.
Verr burst into the room from the stairs leading up to the light room like a furred ice storm, his eyes as wild as his words. “LADS I FOUND A GARMAGORL UP TOP!"
As if timed to emphasize his words, there was a loud screech and the sound of stone smacking heavily into the floor. The door behind Verr shattered into splinters as the Gargoyle shouldered its way through, snarling as it fought through debris.
I take it back. Could we just go back to talking about my past failures? I liked that better.
The Gargoyle was already heavily injured, fresh wounds from the guards it fought earlier that managed to get some hits on it, and some older wounds, whip marks like someone was trying to subdue it.
Like usual, the fighting blurred together, a flurry of hits from company members. The gargoyle pinned Verr for a moment before he broke its hand, rolling away. Lucy and I got in some solid hits, while Mercer threw an axe that opened a crack in its neck. Ina got to put her fireball to use, sending spiderweb cracks through the gargoyle’s back. Ascela added to the magical assault with corrosive magic. Servita widened the wound at the Gargoyle’s neck, before Azazel landed the killing blow, widening the crack in the neck enough to send it to pieces.
Thankfully, everyone was safe. Verr was slightly injured, but he’d be alright. I pulled myself from the room, needing space and a moment to breathe, as the company flew into action.
I… am glad, to not be doing this alone. As I leaned against the desk, recovering from the adrenaline rush, Azazel and Ascela resumed their investigations, Mercer and Servita took care of the widow, Lucy checked on Verr’s injuries, and Ina resumed her investigation, matching the rune on the robe to the rune on the investigation, confirming that this was a Syndicate monster.
Slowly the Company departed, until I was left alone with my thoughts, the corpse of a Lighthouse keeper, a long trek to Northpoint to make my report, and a deep sinking feeling that this rabbit hole was much deeper than I’d ever wanted it to go.
The Craglorn Syndicate wasn’t dead. They were back to their old tricks, and people had died because of it. Gods I’m getting tired of saying that.
Members in Attendance and Deserving of Coin Disbursement
Ascela Levazon
Azazel of Menevia
Ina Ensinma
Mercer Brynnlaw
Servita Belrose
Verrjord Jotunsonr
Members in Attendance and Deserving of Immediate Termination
Lucien Lex
Council Members in Attendance
Zeldava Ellis
