No Daedric Prince spoke to me, in fact a non-existence pressure actually seemed to fade away from me. Almost like when I first woke up on Nirn. I left the forge room and it was almost dawn. Viree looked up, "You done? Took a while didn't you?"
I shrugged, "Creating a masterpiece takes time."
Viree smirked, "Right, sure. Mister master blacksmith."
I opened my quests and check the recent ones. I got a new one from that notebook. The quest however just told me to translate the book. So I tossed that one as a come back later. I still had that quest that was point to Halted Stream Camp. I could test Sable wave there and complete a quest.
"Philip! Come here girl." Philip looked up from where she was staring off into space and trotted over. Viree raised an eyebrow, "She doesn't listen to me like that. How did that work so well for you?"
I was pretty sure it was my speechcraft, I think all the bonus counted toward commanding Philip and why she was so obedient to me. I shrugged though I as got on her back. "I'm just good with animals. Aren't you the same?"
She froze, frowned, then grumbled as she jumped up onto the saddle with me. "Just go."
I smirked and got Philip to start trotting along. Viree asked, "So where are we going, because this isn't towards Whiterun."
I nodded, "We are going to another bandit camp. It's called Halted Stream Camp."
As we drew closer Viree spoke again, "That doesn't look like a bandit camp."
I nodded, the halted stream camp didn't look like what I had remembered. As we got closer A Hunter's Prey updated and gave me a better idea of what the deal was. "It seems I was slightly wrong, they are a small mining village that broke away from Whiterun."
Viree asked, "So not bandits?"
I shook my head, "No they are, as reports gathered they have attacked Loreius farm. Had traded supplies to nearby bandit camps. Likely the silent moon camp, as this is a mining village they likely traded ore or weapons. Finally they have attacked Mammoths in the area. Which isn't bad, but isn't good if you don't wipe the giants that herd them out."
Viree frowned, "So they are bandits? Or uh, Rebels?"
I shrugged, "They might align with the Stormcloaks, but I don't care enough."
I jumped off Philip as we got closer. I stopped Viree from doing so, as we walked up no arrows were shot at us. However a person on a makeshift watchtower called out. "Wh-Who goes there! I'm warning you any further and I'll shoot."
It was a teenager, so I gave a kind smile. "Hello there! I just wanted to ask, are you the ones stirring up trouble with the Giants as of late?"
The teen froze and looked back at the village. My eyes locked onto him, "On who's orders are you acting on."
The teen stiffened further and lowered his bow. He was frightened, but not of me. I nodded my head understanding some of the situation. "If you tell me what is wrong, perhaps I could be of help to you. After all, if you don't I am going to assume everyone in this village is a bandit and kill them all."
The speechcraft check passed easily enough and the Teen nodded. He looked back to the village and dasjed down the watchtower. "A group of men took control of our village a month ago. Whiterun has sent a few gaurds and the men killed them! Now people are calling us bandits, but it wasn't us! They have hostages and we don't know what to do! Th-They have my older brother, please you got to help us. They already killed my dad the previous village cheif an-an-and I..."
I placed a hand on the teens shoulder, "Shhh, its okay. Me and my companion here will handle it. Are these men only in the mine or are they in the village."
He nodded, "They are in the mines, they have four hostages. We haven't been able o do anything because they wear full steel armor. One of them, the leader is almost twice as big as anyone I've ever seen!"
Viree's eyebrow shot up, she looked at me and I gave a look that I knew what it was. Viree jumped off the horse and pointed to the kid. "That's Philip, don't let her wander."
I nodded and unsheathed Sable Wave, the teen's eyes went wide. I pointed, "Now lead us in, we don't want a misunderstanding with the villagers. The teen nodded, and he ran ahead of us leading Philip along. Eventually he tied her to a fence post along with two other horses.
As we walked I inspected the camp, most the the villagers were clad in makeshift armor. It seemed to be cut from Mammoth leather as it was rather hairy. Near the mine entrance was a what looked to butcher area. Looking closer though I saw a workbench so it was likely one used for pickaxe repair and ore refinement.
The teen paused at the door to the mines, "B-Be careful, no one has been in the mines since those men showed up."
The quest updated again and I nodded to the boy. Viree followed me into the mineshaft. I closed the door behind us and I turned to Viree. "Half-Giants, rare in skyrim. Most Atmorans are mixed blood of some kind so I've seen one before. Though these men are likely hill giant heritage than the sea giant variants I know of."
The memories that were both mine and not mine swirled in my head. Half-Giants were in Atmora, in fact everyone in Atmora was mixed breed in someway. I shook off the faux nostalgia, "They are stronger and taller than most other races. So if you can't kill them, aim for their legs and disable them."
Viree nodded and she raised her weapon. She went silent when preparing for a battle, so I followed her in that regard. Becoming silent I slowly casted alteration spells to buff myself. With that done I slipped through the mines finding the first victim. A man who was rather tall, not huge. However to me it was clear he wasn't a normal human.
I sliced Sable Wave straight through him and I gasped. Viree eyes, went wide and slacked jaw as well. She whispered, "What! The! Fuck!"
I shrugged, paused a second and reanalyzed Sable Wave. Doing some mental math I realized Sable Wave's base damage was triple that of a normal daedric sword. The half-giant man was dead without so much of a thought of what killed him. Me and Viree moved on, but...
Viree frowned at me, "If you are just gonna slice through everyone I don't think we need the stealth."
I looked up ahead of the mine and sighed. "To be honest I think its only the leader left."
Me and Viree were standing next to a Mammoth corpse. Well, almost a mammoth corpse. It was the legs, head and portion of the stomach cooking over a fire. Viree looked at with a hungry expression and I leaned over to looked past the meat. The leader of these Half-Giants stood over a table. Flickering glowing light would shimmer in his hands occasionally, but he never turned away.
With a shrug I snuck up behind him. I nearly jumped though as he growled to himself. The flickering glow continued though. I glanced at a notification though.
That was nice, my sneak wasn't increasing as fast, but I had put all the possible points I had into it. Combine that with my spells, I smiled and slashed through the leaders legs. He screamed, "ARGHGH!" He threw his arm backwards and it clipped me in the shoulder. To my shock I flew backwards and hit the rocky floor.
I groaned, but VIree picked me up. "Wow, he is strong."
I rubbed my shoulder a little and stared at the legless man. He held onto the table he was just previously working on with an axe raised. Looking at it my eyes lingered on it. He spoke in a gruff tone, "So the villagers finally found someone to do their dirty business."
I looked at the half-giant, even without legs he towered over me. It was only now I realized the table was much taller than a normal one. "I heard you have hostages, I don't see them. Where are they?"
He spat onto the ground, "Fuck you." However his eyes flickered toward a wall of rocks. I frowned, "Viree, go dig out those boulders if you can. It seems he was using them to mine ore."
The man sneered, "Get any closer and I'll gut you."
I turned on the charm and smiled, "You arely gonna bleed out, so mind telling me why a half-giant is here? As far as I know they don't live in skyrim."
He laughed and threw his helme off. My eyes locked onto the tattoes across his face. "A forsworn, I suppose with them turning into Hag-ravens it isn't stretch they would have Half-Giants."
He spat again this time it was blood. "Not Half-Giant boy! I was a Breton, until they started making us! My men that you killed! Expierments!"
I frowned, experiments? "So you fled them? or Banished?"
He face was growing paler, "Why do you care?"
I smiled, "I'm always looking for a good quest. My current one was called A hunter's prey. At first it didn't make much since to me. However.... I wonder if you have a different quest for me."
He looked confused and more than just woozy. "A hunter's prey... Yes, I suppose I would be their prey." His eyes shifted, "The Forsworn branch I ran from is called the Hunter's. They live near Markarth. Out in the mountains, if... If you promise to kill them all I will mark it on a map for you."
I smiled, "I would love to, but you would need to drop your axe for me to approach you with a map."
He paused looked at his legs and let out a deep breath. He threw the axe down and nodded. "That sword, what is it? I shouldn't be bleeding out this fast from..." He pointed to his legs.
I looked down at Sable Wave, A crimson light glowed within it. It was sapping him still of his energy. The initial strike drained him of health, but he was still being drained of stamina. I focused back on him, "Sable Wave, a Daedric Artifact."
He laughed, "Never heard of such a wicked blade. It feels like its stealing my will to live, my soul? Bah! Just show me your map."
So I did, and his finger fell onto a mountain. I received a new quest and his finger slipped down off the map and he slumped over. He died, perhaps this quest could have been solved without violence? However as I turned to where VIree was digging. I had thought there was a good chance those hostages were buried alive.
I looked at the complete quest and then at the new quest, "A Prey's Hunt! I had already failed a quest objective."
One of the objectives was to travel with Bomir, to kill the forsworn Hunters. I assume Bomir was the half-giant leader. The quest didn't fail though, instead it changed. It said to use the poacher's axe for Bomir's vengeance. "Behead the Hagraven of Hunter's Crest using the Poacher's Axe."
I rubbed my chin in thought, I picked up the Poacher's Axe and looked at it. It had the expected enchantment and a little more. It dealt twice as much damage to animals, dealt triple the damage to owned or protected animals, and dealt ten times as much damage to endangered, rare, or extinct species.
With a base damage of 27, that was equal to Pendulum Viree's current weapon. I rubbed my chin in some thought. Maybe I should take up to crafting some two-handed weapons. I searched the rest of the area collecting the gold, jewelry and potions. Along with a very special spell book.
"Transmute!" I smiled at the pretty alteration spell book. I should stop talking to myself.
I pocketed the spell book for now and I turned to Viree. "Any luck?"
Viree grumbled and threw another boulder away. Shaking her head, I sighed and raised my hand. "Here let me see if they are even alive."
I casted Detect checking for any signs, and to my shock there was. Three glowing orbs that signified the sign that someone was there. "Go get the villagers, they are alive back there. Since I'd like to get back to Whiterun quickly. We should get them out quickly."
Vire sighed and nodded, "They better reward us."
Pretty sure she was was only saying that due to all this meat.