Hircule's Curse

"Sleep well?" a woman's voice said from the corner of the room. The Altmer's eyes shot up to the source of the voice. There, causally sitting a lot a bookshelf, sat a figure draped in dark red and black, with her face covered in a shroud.

"Who are you? Where am I?" The elf demanded, pulling herself off the floor and into a more defensible position.

The woman sighed, "Does it matter? You're warm, dry…and very much alive." Faelwen's inner beast bristled at the underlying threat the cloaked woman issued so casually. The golden-skinned elf reigned in the beast's anger, she needed a clear mind to find a way out. "The same can't be said for old Glelod, hm?"

Shock ran through the elf, this woman knew about that incident. The blood on Faelwen's hands because of the cursed Ring of Hircule.

She was in Rifton trying to get information on the Ring of Hercule. She had hoped Maul would be able to cleanse it or at least tell her what enchantment it held when she overheard some children crying outside the orphanage, crying about the cruelty fate and Glelod the Kind has dealt them.

Faelwen had just meant to talk to Glelod, try and convince the woman her handling of the children was unjust (bribe her if necessary) but the ring made her beast blood lust for the hunt as Glelod went into the garden alone. Faelwen couldn't stop it. For all the strength and control she learned as the Dragonborn, she could not stop the transformation willed by the ring. The transformation wasn't like before, when she willing turned into a beast she had control of her actions, could wield the bloodlust against her foes. This time was different, this time all she wanted to do was hunt. All she could thing about was the chase, and that's exactly what she did. Glelod had made the mistake of running once she saw the werewolf before her and the elf turned wolf couldn't help but give chase.

Faelwen didn't know how she got out of Riften alive, with all the guards chasing her throughout the town square. The elf woke up naked several hours later having discarded her armor during the transformation and horrified of what she realized she had done. She had never lost control like that and it terrified her. What if she transformed like that in Jorrvaskr? What if she injured her friends or worse.

Faelwen snapped her attention back to her current situation, "How do you know about that?"

The shrouded woman scoffed, "Half of Skyrim knows. Old Hag butchered in her own orphanage, things like that get around."

"What about the children?"

"What about them? The old crone had it coming and you saved a group of urchins to boot. It's good kill in my book." The woman shifted atop the bookcase shifting away from the elf. "But…there is a slight problem."

"What problem?" Faelwen growled.

"You see that little Aretino boy was looking for the Dark Brotherhood," the woman obviously had a flair for dramatics because she had the elf waiting several moments before she continued. "For me and my associates."

The elf was getting tired of these games. She had to get to Sinding before the hunters and be on her way, "What does that have to do with me?"

"Glelod the Kind, by all rights, was a Dark Brotherhood contract. A kill that you stole. A kill you must repay." Again the woman took long pauses for dramatics.

It was Faelwen's turn to scoff, "You want me to murder someone else? I did not mean to kill Glelod in the first place!"

The blue eyes of the shrouded woman's eyes narrowed. "Purposeful or not you did kill her and you owe us blood."

"No."

"You don't have a choice in the matter. There will be blood repaid, whether it is your blood, Dragonborn, or someone else's it makes no difference to me, but you will not be leaving here without repaying your debt."

The green eyes of the Altmer stared into the cold blue eyes of the assassin. This woman has connections, if she could kidnap me, she could kidnap any of the Companions. Though I don't think she would be thick enough to try to infiltrate Jorrvaskr itself, she still could grab one of them out on a false assignment. "It seems I have no choice in the matter."

The assassin seemed pleased. "If you turn around you will notice my guests. I've collected them from…well that's not really important. The here and now, that's what's important, you see, there is a contract out on one of them and that person can't leave this room alive. But which one? Go on see if you can figure it out. You'll find you weapons in the truck to your left." The elf turned to see three people on their knees, bound and with sacks over their heads. She turned back to the assassin still perched atop the bookshelf and gave her a skeptical look. The assassin sighed. "Just pretend it's one of your mercenary jobs you do as a Companion, if it will ease your mind."

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