Canary asked, "So where did you go yesterday?"
"Didn't I tell you? We recruited some bandits to a future mining operation and I found a bow." Canary stared at me with a frown. I looked at the silent Hajvarr and Ulfr beside her.
Hajvarr shrugged, "I just appreciate the job."
Canary frowned, "I'm not talking to you. Why are they riding with us?"
I elaborated, "Well, we payed off their bounty and fixed the mistaken bounty that lead them to be bandits in the first place. Which lead them to be hired through a magic contract. This secures the mining operation I will open near Riften."
Canary glared at me and just shook her head. "It honestly doesn't surprise me that you used a magic contract for a guard employment."
Viree whistle, "Is that Helgen?" Up ahead was a charred fortress. Not like one of the forts that dotted Skyrim. Helgen was much bigger than anything I had expected. I suppose this version of Helgen made more sense than any other. It also explained why it was the place so many stormcloak executions.
"Yup, destroyed by a living myth. You won't find much, Alduin scorched the whole surface." Ulfr interrupted shortly after me.
"Was Helgen really destroyed by a dragon? I heard the rumors from Rodulf, but..."
Hajvarr responded to his Uncle. "Yes, even the Imperial walls were destroyed. Very little is left of the fortress."
I drove the carriage through Helgen and I could feel the eyes on us. I shouted, "I know scavengers are here! I suggest you leave before we kill you. Looting and Raiding is prohibited by the empire."
Canary nodded, "Smart, I could feel eyes on us."
I shrugged, "The people that would scavenge ruins like this aren't the type that would want to confront people. Stormcloaks likely already scavenged the place."
Canary nodded, "Ulfric Stormcloak was set to be executed here. Did you know killed an entire legion by himself? It's a miracle they caught him at all."
I looked back at Canary, "How long we staying?"
She jumped off in response, "I'm checking the Legion's Barracks. As you said Stormcloaks likely scavenged this place. However still a chance they didn't actually find everything."
I pointed to Viree, "You follow her, just in case of scavengers hiding around."
The two women nodded and started moving. While they were gone I began using detect to power level alteration. After an hour or so they came back. Looking at the two it seemed they got into a scuffle. "Hmm, scuffle? Really?"
Canary called out, "What did you say?"
I corrected, "I asked what happened."
Viree sighed, "Scavengers, obviously. Canary opened a safe and they jumped us." Viree held out the bag of looted items. I searched it and sorted the items. Canary shook her head, but raised up some documents.
"Execution logs, Entry Logs, and some other random data points. Strangely though the data on the Thalmor are missing. The head ambassador visited Helgen before the attack. Yet any entry data about her visit is missing. In fact that whole day is missing."
Hajvarr trying to be helpful suggested something that made Canary frown. "What if due to the dragon attack that log data wasn't added and thus destroyed."
I thought about it, how Hadvar and his boss wrote down everyone's names. Eventually starting the character creator. "No, The empire likes their lists. They would've logged the entries before the arrival and any anomalies added afterwards. The execution logs could've been lost, but not the entry logs."
Canary nodded, "Meaning it was a surprise visit that not even General Tullius hadn't expected. I have a feeling even if the Dragon didn't attack something would've gone wrong. Let's get going I have everything I need."
I nodded and Philip started moving again. I directed us toward Orphan Rock. I grabbed a bounty for the Hagraven there. I could also pick up nettlebane and start the next part of the gildergreen quest.
As we began to close in on the witch coven I slowed down. Viree looked around, "So why are we here?"
I jumped off the carriage. "Bounty on a witch coven."
Hajvarr paused, "Should I help?"
Ulfr shook his head, "I know I'm not."
Canary sighed, "Let's get this over with."
We moved quickly, Canary shot arrows at the furthest hags. With me and Viree killing the closer witches. The Hagraven threw a fit and a fire ball was slung at Canary. She dodged while I ran up the path. The Hagraven turned to me and was about to fire another fireball at me point blank. However an arrow appeared in its eye.
The Hagraven stumbled and I closed the gap. I cut across its neck and severed its head in one fluid motion. I looked around and moved toward an alter. A goat's head, several feathers and nettlebane were laid a top it. I grabbed nettlebane, it didn't have the look of an ebony dagger. Instead it looked like scissor blade, just without the other half.
I shrugged and stored away Nettlebane. Canary spied me, "Your deep storage is astoundingly large. How do you store so much within it?"
Right, deep storage was the spell that essentially acted as an inventory. It was apparently a rare, but well known spell. I shrugged, "I manage it very carefully."
Viree nodded, "And whatever he can't carry he dumps on me. Like sleeping bags and food provisions."
I shook my head, "I got the carriage?"
I jumped back onto the carriage as I spoke. Several bags were loaded onto the carriage at various angles. Canary and Viree climbed back on. Ulfr chimed in though, "I can't see this death trap, but I know its cramped. We are sitting on our sleeping bags."
I countered, "Doesn't that make it more comfortable? Nice and soft seat rather than hard wood?"
This time I didn't stop the carriage for a long time. The path was harder to navigate than I thought and we took a while longer. Traveling this area on foot was definitely faster. Eventually though I slowed the carriage back down near the alchemists shack.
"This seems like a good place to stop!" I pointed the shack.
No one said it, but they all looked at me like I was a little nuts. So I elaborated, "You can see the clear outline of a skeleton in that garden. The owner is clearly dead, and I call dibs on the bed."
Canary shook her head, "You can have the bed. I'm not sleeping in some moldy shack."
I rolled my eyes as everyone got off the carraige. I untied Philip and let her walk around a bit before tying her to a fence post. I gave it some slack so she wouldn't just tear it out of the ground and I moved to loot the shack.
Sure enough, I found a bug in a jar. What shocked me was the intricate runes carved on the jar. The lid was even fused to the jar with runes. Inside the jar was a butterfly, it floated in air slowly flapping its wings. Canary came up behind me and gasped.
"Is that a suspension jar? That's incredible. These are incredibly rare." Her curiosity shined brightly.
So I asked, "What does it do?"
"Huh? Oh functionally nothing. They were just made by an eccentric bug collector. The jars don't break so when he died the collection was sold as decorations. Some people stole them, some theorized they were actually made by Sheogorath to drive people mad. After all the runes don't appear in any known alphabet. Very interesting none the less."
So it was useless? I blinked though as I received a quest.
The quest was simple gather the jars found in skyrim. It had an option version which was collect all 24 bug jars. I asked, "Is there 24 bug jars?"
Canary stopped looking at the jar and nodded, "Yeah, and each bug is a rare species. I believe this butterfly is the... Ghost Shell Monarch Butterfly. Over all they look just like normal butterflies. That is until you shine a bright light on them."
With that I held the jar to the sun and the butterfly within turned translucent and pale, just like a ghost. I shrugged and pocketed the jar.