Stranger Sounds

It takes a day to reach Helgen, the trees becoming more sparse the higher they climb towards the mountains. Michael would've been worried about if the horses could pull the cart up such steep paths if they weren't the hardy Skyrim breed that we all know and love(hate). They might not be fast, but boy were those things strong.

As for Helgen itself? The group passed through the walled town relatively quickly, Michael not wanting to have anything to do with the place. For one, he knew what fate awaited the place, and he didn't think he'd be able to stand by and not get involved if he made connections with the people there. There was also his companion's wellbeing to worry about. Tiffania still hadn't quite gotten over the burning of Cendri, so he didn't think adding another burnt town to their history was a good idea... This way it'd just be a footnote, instead of something important... As callous as that may sound.

Once they rode past Helgen, they entered the mountain passage that was surrounded by rocky outcroppings that protected them to some degree against the harsh winds... Though, not the wildlife apparently, forcing them to deal with a few groups of wolves, a sabercat, and one small mudcrab that'd somehow climbed into the back and pinched Michael's foot... Piece of shit.

Michael primarily let Charlotte and Tiffania deal with these threats though, wanting them to get more practical experience with their magic... This only really applied to Tiffania really, as Charlotte had been sent on suicide missions by her uncle for many years now.

Their journey continued in this relative peace for many more hours... Until Michael notices something out of the corner of his eye. At first, he thought it was a bear due to its brown fur, but quickly he realised that it was a person wearing a pelt.

"Stormcloak?" he mutters, confused at them being here at all. Any regular person wouldn't have noticed, but with his high agility, his eye-sight was better than most... As for the Stormcloak? He hadn't thought they were around yet, considering that the Civil War hadn't even started... right?

Since they were sneaking around like this, it meant they were either doing covert operations or simply didn't have permission from Jarl Dengier to act in his Hold.

Regardless, Michael decided to stay out of their business. Getting involved in whatever 'this' was could only spell trouble for him and his companions. So, they simply rode past, the Stormcloaks completely unaware that they'd been spotted.

An hour later and the group stumbled across what could only be a crime scene... In front of a mountain passage that led between two cliffs were many bandit corpses, each having an arrow or two stuck out of them and many blade wounds by the looks of it.

These idiots probably tried to ambush the Stormcloaks from earlier. Michael shakes his head and tells Charlotte to have the horses go over them. No point honouring the dead if they weren't honourable when they were alive.

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Thirty minutes later as the group rode through the passage, Charlotte noticed a strange buzzing in her ears... It wasn't coming from anything outside, merely sounding like a worse version of tinnitus. It steadily grew as they continued along the road, she was about to ask if the others were experiencing the same thing when something occurred...

"Hello?" a rather high-pitch male voice asks, causing her to freeze up in the coachman's seat. "D-did you say something?" she asks the others behind her, but they just shake their heads in response.

...

Charlotte frowns and decides that she was just hearing things, the wind perhaps... Though, maybe this strange new world had whispering spirits or something of the sort?

"Heelllloooo~" the voice asks again, this time in a singsong voice. Was something playing a prank on her?

"No pranks! I just wanted to know who's approaching my humble abode, if you will." the voice continues, somehow reading her mind, only causing her to tense up further.

"No one." she mentally intones, not wanting to get involved with whatever was happening.

"Oh? Looks to me like no one's got problems, problem's that can't be fixed quite as easily as your friend makes out..." the stranger states, shocking Charlotte as such conversations were only held in private back at Falkreath... How could it have known?

"Aha! I know many things! Many horrible, terrible, beautiful things!... Things that could both harm, and help." the voice explains, a strange charisma coating every word despite her wishes to ignore them.

...

"Oh? Trying to ignore me then? Fine! We'll see how far acting like that gets you!" the voice states, the buzzing in her ears quickly vanishing and leaving her sitting there, confused.

She takes a moment to think through everything that'd been said before deciding to tell Michael about it. She explains about the voice, what it said, its knowledge, and its parting words. Indeed, it seems like she should be worried judging by the look on his face.

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Yeah, so, apparently something was mentally talking to Charlotte... Shit!

He opens his book and glowers at the Vessel of the Hunt in his inventory, wondering if Hircine had decided to continue playing games with him. It must be him! Who else could it be? He'd even confirmed that no other Prince knew of them, and that he wouldn't tell them... Evil, cruel, and vindictive they might be, but from what he heard they usually keep their word.

There was also the possibility of it not being a Prince, as unlikely as that seemed. The things it'd said and the way it'd said them made it apparent that it was at best neutral, and at worst malicious. The fact that it knew about his words to her and Maria's condition only worried him more...

Still, he couldn't leave things like this. He looks back to Charlotte who was frowning and warily glancing around, "Don't worry about it, just don't listen to whoever it was and things'll be okay. If it was one of 'Them', they can only cause harm if you let them." he says, more trying to convince her against listening to the voice than anything else... As Hircine has shown, the Daedric Princes were more than able to affect this realm, to some extent at least.