Ah the smell of wood burning. It was one of my favorite smells. Makeshift stalls were set up. In the middle of the city though was a large hunk of meat. I think it was a mammoth, but it was being slow roasted by a fire pit.
Overall the Burning of Olaf festival was much bigger than before. Well I checked my quests and sure enough. I still had the quest Escort of the Fair. I had to escort Elisif safely through the festival and help her relax.
To be honest I had already lost Viree. Canary who was in the party left immediately upon entering the city. I guess to go make her report of the events. Which left me in my current predicament. Should I go do my quest? or do I use some bardic skills to make money?
Perhaps I could weasel some money of the Jarl. I was doing this to also get a free house in the city. Elisif was the better option for right now. I still had a plan to make money. I was scheming all the way back to Solitude after all.
I made my way towards the Blue Palace. I looked at the stalls and found the Khajiit Caravan actually set up outside the Castle Dour. A bunch of guards were watching them sell an Elsweyr cuisines. Truth be told they seemed really normal. Meat pies, some kind fish cake, and raisin cookies.
Interesting they were let into the city for the festival. Normally they are never let in as a group. They seemed to be making some money with their raisin cookies. I wonder how they got the raisins.
I walked into the Blue Palace. The security seemed a little higher than normal I could feel some magic in the air, or more precisely the walls. Seems Sybille used some kind of fireproofing. Elisif wasn't at the throne so I walked over to Falk's office. I knocked at the door and he opened it up a second later. "Good timing. Jarl Elisif is... well, just come with me."
I followed him to a different room in the Palace. I was pretty sure this was her bedroom. Though the layout of the Blue Palace changed so I was a little unsure. Falk knocked on the door. "Elisif? I brought someone who can help. You know him already."
Elisif shouted back, "No! I may have allowed the Festival to happen. That however doesn't mean I approve of it. Who knows if those monsters may be waiting for me."
Falk sighed, "Elisif can you at least open the door?"
I could hear her whimper, but she shouted back. "No! I won't! I am safe here."
I sighed, "Falk I got this..." I knocked on the door myself. "Jarl? I am Vek. You remember me? Falk wants me to escort you during the festival so you relax a little."
She shouted back, "I am sorry Sir Vek. However I do no-"
I cut her off, "Would Torygg want you to sulk like this?"
Falk eyes bugged for a second, but Elisif went silent. A few seconds later I could hear her stomp to the door. She swung it opened with a big frown. I could tell she was crying a little. It seemed the Jarl was a bit of a baby. The changing situation was obvious.
The Jarl sighed, "Give me 5 minutes to get ready.... You are right. He wouldn't want me to hide."
She closed the door and Falk smiled, "Good thinking I suppose. Though I am a little sad my old friend had to be used in such a way."
I shrugged, "Elisif wants three things. To be a a good jarl, uphold the memory of Torygg, and to make her court proud. After all most of the Court were friends or family to Torygg."
Falk nodded, "You have a pretty good assessment of things. I am the only person who was friends with Elisif before Torygg."
I shrugged, "It happens, on a different note... Can I get some pocket money to spend on festival activities if need be?"
Falk laughed and pulled out a bag of gold. "100 septims, best I can give you."
I raised an eyebrow, "Seems you prepared this before I asked." He gave a smirk as Elisif opened her door. She was wearing some regal, but clearly more inconspicuous robes. It seems she didn't want to be recognized, though she likely still will be.
I held out my hand and lowered my head a little. I felt like a teenager escorting their partner to prom. However Elisif took my hand nonetheless and followed me. Falk silently took off leaving me to escort the Jarl.
As we left the Blue Palace I asked, "How should I call you tonight? You dressed to not be recognized right?"
She nodded, "You may call me Eli for just tonight... V-Vek."
She looked away when calling my name. I could still see her face though. It seems she was thinking about the past. Perhaps Torygg called her Eli? Not like it mattered to me. As we began our short walk Elisif was looking around. I could tell it wasn't out of curiosity. Elisif was more paranoid than I thought.
I spoke in a soft tone. "Look here, it seems the Bard's college set up a game."
A carnival themed stall was set up next to the college. It looks like they set up a small archery range. It even had miniature bows. Who came up with this idea actually? Elisif scanned it over, "A game?"
One of the bards step over to the stall. I recognized the face, but no clue on the name. It was one of the miscellaneous quest givers. "Why don't you two give it a try?"
I smiled, "Eli would you like to? It may be fun."
She looked at me and stepped forward. "I'll give it a try." The jarl began trying to man-handle the tiny bow. While she was doing that someone was trying to catch my attention. I looked over and saw Lurbuk. "Psst! Psst! Vek, over here."
I kept the jarl in view and got closer to Lurbuk. "You like my idea? Originally I suggest an archery range so even the guards could have a little fun showing off their skills. However Viarmo came up with this. Pretty neat huh?"
I smirked, "It is clever, speaking of Viarmo when is he gonna start the King Olaf burning?"
Lurbuk gave a nod, "That is just before midnight so you got about 4 hours."
It was closing in on night time anyway. Perhaps I would take the Jarl back to the Blue Palace before that and use a little extra time to earn some gold. "I have to get back to escorting the lady over there. See you around Lurbuk."
He nodded and I was right beside Elisif again. She was still in the process of shooting the small arrows designed for the game. She hit the target twice so far and missed once. When she shot the final two arrows she missed again, but hit on the very last arrow.
I gave a smile, "Nicely done!"
The Jarl had the beginnings of a smile. The Bard who was watching the little game stall however was smiling. "Congrats you can get one of these prizes."
The prizes weren't much, it seems they rushed getting them. Some books, wines and what looked to be instruments. The bard spoke, "If the prizes don't catch your eye you can also get some septims."
Elisif pointed, "I'll just take the septims."
The bard nodded and handed her a pouch of gold. My guess it was about 20 coins. The Jarl turned back to me and asked, "Now what?"
I preformed a mental sigh. "We can do whatever you want. Most of the stalls are festival foods. However I am pretty sure we could find some stalls with clothes or jewelry. Most of the stores in Solitude have set up a stall of some kind to make some money."
She looked around, "I see, the festival was more important than I thought. Me canceling the event could've effected the economy."
I highly doubted that, but I kept listening to the Jarl. "Me and Torygg met during the New Year Celebrations. It was a nobles party held by the court. Perhaps we should hold more city wide events."
Telling that the only other city 'wide' event I knew of was the public executions. It was a good idea, "It would benefit the moral of the city. If said events took place in multiple cities it could help in more ways than one. Many people lose family due to the war, you included. Even for a day it can help those who are grieving a time to relax."
She nodded, "Lead the way then."
I gave a nod and began walking her through the stalls. Elisif's eyes lingered on a few things however the thing I took note of was when she looked at a stall that was being run by some random citizen. "You want one some of that taffy?"
She shook her head, "I shouldn't they are for kids."
I placed the three gold on the counter and took some of the taffy. The stall owner smiled and waved at the Jarl. When I got back to her she whispered, "He waved do you think he recognized me?"
I shook my head, "Doesn't matter, here is your Taffy."
I gave her a smile and she took it from me. The Jarl was more problematic than I thought. She had the potential of a good jarl, but as a person she was lacking. "Let's continue talking shall we? What do you want to achieve? What will you do if the civil war enters a cease fire?"
I was referring to the cease fire that would occur when the dragonborn needs help at Dragonsreach. I was curious how she would answer. She paused, "Why are you asking me?"
I raised an eyebrow and shrugged, "I am wondering if you will be a good Jarl. The war will end, however not without some sacrifices. I could help end the war alone as long as someone like me doesn't enter it as well. Ultimately, what I am trying to say. Do you value your people or the people of skyrim more?"
She stopped in the street, "I see what you are getting at. I am not a very proactive Jarl. My court either doesn't respect me or doesn't have the ability to help me. Even now after you clear out the Pelagius wing we haven't done anything about it. We had you clear out Wolfskull cave and stop Potema! The Blue Palace is barely helping in matters of piracy and trade protection."
This was all true, however from what I've seen. If one of the players didn't do the quest they would be completed eventually. One way or another, meaning the only thing I really did was the stuff with Potema. I gave the Jarl a genuine smile, "It happens, that is why you have useful or powerful vassals. The catch to this is if those vassals are ambitious or not. Take Sybille for example, she will do her job mostly, but if you want her help..."
Elisif frowned, "I won't get it." She thought for a moment as I we stopped in front of a clothing stand. It was obvious who set this up. I thought Elisif was looking at the clothes until she spoke again. "what are your ambitions Vek?"
I blinked, "Mine? They are relatively simple I guess. Create an information guild, one which knows anything and everything. I have all the ingredients to it except for money though. So the short term right now is more cash."
With some surprising strength she grabbed me and pulled me towards a dark corner. "Vek? If I fund any of your projects are you willing to help me with anything I ask?"
I shrugged, "I'll be honest, I'll do anything except hurt kids. They can't really fight back, and the moment they can I will be older so... Perhaps they will be more spry than me and I am the one getting hurt. The real question is... Who do you want me to kill?"
Her tone and pulling me to a dark corner it indicated the obvious. Not to mention if she was asking anything... Well, I gave me a bright smile knowing I could ask almost anything in return. The Jarl paused, "I want you to kill Erikur. He has been going behind the jarl's back even before I became the Jarl. He has assaulted multiple of the palace maids, so most don't want to work anymore. Finally he constantly tries to weasel his way into my pants. Either through his disgusting flirting or by talking about my possible remarriage."
I paused, those were actually good reason. I had thought of getting rid of him myself for a few reasons. After all I knew he was on the side of the Thalmor. He had business with the thieves guild. Not to mention I knew he had some connection with drugs since he got cheated by the Dainty Sload involving Baltimore Blue. If I wanted to make my own trades I needed to get rid of any competition near Solitude anyway.
I smiled, "You have my word Jarl, I will see to it that he is removed from the court."
That ended most of our conversations. So I escorted the Jarl a little more until I eventually brought her back to the Blue Palace. When I exited I had a new quest for myself. 'Removing a Thane', a simple quest, however one that I knew was a chain quest. I could smell it from the quest log. I smirked and walked back toward the festival.