In my last Skyrim post, Iselia had been named a protector of Solitude thanks to her actions taking on some cultists and then the spirit of the Wolf Queen... she had been disappointed at the massive lack of loot discovered though.
She was now based in Whiterun, eager to trawl all the nearby burial chambers, quite happy to steal from the dead in the name of profit. Her first stop had been Riverwood where she was informed of a tomb atop a nearby mountain, where bandits had stolen from a shopkeep.
And so she had raced to the mountain top, killed the bandits, reclaimed what belonged to the shopkeep, and was now looting the tomb as planned.
Did that make her a bandit too? She didn't know. Either way, she was finding tonnes of treasures in the burial urns and her Dawnbreaker was smiting all the undead that still lurked in these halls.
To her surprise though, the tomb eventually opened up into a great cave system...
She crept through it, uncertain as to what she would find, and killed several more undead lurking about. That had to be a good sign, surely. Perhaps there was another part of a tomb at the other end of this cave.
At the other end of the cave wasn't just a tomb... it was a strange door, with claw-shaped marks in it, and all sorts of strange symbols. She looked at the golden claw she had rescued for the shopkeep, and realised that it was a perfect fit for the door and had the same symbols on it.
Intuitively placing it in the door and turning it... it unlocked like it were a great key, and Iselia crept into this new area.
Inside this secret area was a great heavily-armoured undead who kept shouting at her, but thankfully Dawnbreaker took him out with ease. She would be forever grateful for Meridia's gift.
There were some strange glowing runes on the wall nearby, an odd magic that emanated outward and spread into her. She didn't know what it did or what it meant, but more magic was always a good thing... right?
She looted the area of everything it had then returned to Riverwood. There she gave the shopkeep back his golden claw and got rewarded for it with far more gold than the steward of Solitude gave her.
Perhaps she should help the common people more often...
Now... she wanted to continue her quest in exploring every single burial chamber she could find and looting all the treasures, but she had a problem.
She had too many goods and not enough people to sell them to.
She was going to need a place to call her own so she could store all this stuff, so she could fill up her adventure satchel with MORE stuff.
She rather liked Riverwood. It was a nice location, picturesque, and not too cold. Returning to the trader, she asked if he knew of any available properties in the region she could buy.
It just so happened that there was a house just above Riverwood and he was selling the key and deed to it.
She didn't need to hear any more information. She plonked down a purse full of coin, bought the key, then got her gold back selling yet another handful of gems.
It was perfect.
There were some chests to hold her items, a little safe with which she could stash her valuables, a cooking fire and a bed.
It was small but cozy, and perfect for the time being. One day she wanted to build a great manor here in Skyrim, but for now this quaint little Riverwood home would serve her well, and most importantly, give her a place to stash all her loot.
Speaking of homes and her future manor - she had heard that several holds in the region were offering plots of land for sale. One near Falkreath seemed particularly appealing.
She decided that that would be her next destination.
When she arrived, the Jarl of Falkreath seemed to have been expecting her. She vaguely remembered a random courier at some point delivering a message from him to her, but with all the cultists and bandits and whatnot it had been easy to forget.
Apparently this particular Jarl was young, foolhardy, and overly aware of his station. He also dallied with the local bandits in return for a cut of their stolen goods. Apparently they hadn't paid him recently, and as such he wanted them dead. Iselia would have his favour if she did this task for him.
Iselia held no qualms about this whatsoever. And besides, she needed the man's favour if she wanted a plot of land in this region.
As she left Falkreath and hunted for the bandit's lair, she realised just how beautiful it was here. Serene. Tranquil. And surrounded by burial crypts. Whoever had told her that Whiterun would be best for burial looting had been grossly mistaken. This was truly going to be the best place for her to be located.
First, though; the bandits.
Until next time! 😊⚔️❄️