Of Snow and Bone - Part Twelve

28th of Last Seed, 4th Era 201

We explored a cave along the road to Markarth, before the sun had yet risen. Inside were men and women dressed all in ragged furs and feather headdresses, their weapons crude sharpened sticks, stones, and animal teeth. Though they were brave and fought with ferocity, they died easily. With proper equipment and a little more training they would have been deadly. Were these savages the Forsworn the man in Karthwasten had mentioned?
An old crumbling tower was the centerpiece of the huge cave, and I wondered why someone had bothered to build it there. I could understand fortifying a natural position like a cave, but a tower seemed a fairly poor choice of stonework.
It all made more sense when I discovered a ladder leading upwards, outside. The tower in the cave had just been a foundation for a tower above, connected to a series of fortifications. Several Forsworn patrolled the area, but we took them all out with relative ease.

As the fortifications led back into the cliff face, I discovered a strange and horrible creature. Half bird, half woman, she was caged and raved about her sister Petra taking her tower from her. She promised a valuable staff as reward if I set her loose and helped her kill her sister. I released her from the cage, though Borgakh and I kept a watchful eye.
The hagraven, as she called herself, led us through a series of traps and hidden doors, lending her magic whenever we had to fight. So far although she seemed a little insane and more than a little grotesque, she had not tried to betray us.
When we found her sister Petra, Melka entered into a magical duel with her as Borgakh and I took care of Petra's forsworn guards. With her sister slain, and tower reclaimed, Melka gave me her magical staff as promised. I also found an enchanted Dwemer shield in an old chest, and took it to replace my mundane one. I bid Melka fairwell and the best of luck with her tower, and we made our way back to Blacktail. The sun had dawned and risen bright as I mounted the gelding.

We found a small shack along the road, sitting in front of a mine. I would have passed it by, but three Forsworn jumped from the rocks and assaulted us when we approached. There were none in the shack, but I decided to check the mine just in case, to make sure no other travellers would be attacked.
We slew the Forsworn in the mine easily; all except one. His heart had been cut straight from his chest, and replaced with a strange plant. Judging by the power of his magical attacks, it seemed likely that some sort of foul necromancy was responsible.
The mine, once cleared, was rich with glittering veins of gold. Borgakh and I spent several hours collecting and smelting as much of the ore as we could find. By the time Borgakh got to Markarth, she would be drowning in wealth. In the meantime, she struggled to lug the many gold and silver ingots in her pack. Blacktail bore the weight easily on his thick frame, though. I insisted the Orc girl let my mount carry some of her weight, but she stubbornly refused.

Blacktails bags were practically bursting at the seams with jewelry, potions, gems and ingots of precious metal. I took them off to give him a break, even though he didn't seem to mind the weight, as I knelt by the river to refill my waterskins and wash up. Borgakh and I took some time to maintain our equipment and eat a quick meal, then it was back on the road to Markarth.
As I rode past a mine just outside of the ancient Dwemer city, several miners where gathered around talking excitedly.
"By the nine, what happened to you Pavo?" one of them asked.
"The Forsworn have taken Kolskegger mine!" he exclaimed. "We're all that's left."
"Kolskegger mine?" I asked, reigning Blacktail to a halt. "Is that the gold mine a few miles down the road? With a shack out front?"
When I told the man named Pavo that I had cleared all the Forsworn from the mine, he looked at me in disbelief. I had to describe the mine in detail before he believed me, then he gave me a large coin purse as thanks for my deed. I tried to tell him that wasn't neccesary, but he insisted, then bolted off down the road with a few other men.

Markarth was quite a sight, and seemed to have been carved from the very stone of the mountains itself. I handed the coinpurse Pavo had given me to Borgakh, as payment for her half of our adventuring loot. She looked inside and nodded, declaring that it was "More than fair". With a warm goobye we parted ways, me heading to the smith and her to the inn. It felt nice to be alone again.
It had been tempting to just sell the ingots of gold and silver, but I decided to use them to refine my smithing skills instead, and forged many rings and amulets from the metal. When I was done, I felt I had gained a finer knowledge of smithing that working armor-quality metals could never give me.
When I was done, I finally felt confident enough to try my hand at Orichalcum armor. I purchased several ingots from the smith, a burly and gruff Orc woman who seemed to enjoy berating her apprentice. When I was done, it was late into the night, but I had a full suit of Orcish armor; everything but a shield. My enchanted Dwemer shield would have to do for now.
I was exhausted, but very pleased, and headed to the inn to bed down. I didn't see Borgakh anywhere, and assumed she was either in one of the rooms or had left. I wolfed down dinner and then went to bed, admiring my polished orichalcum plate in the light of a flickering candle.