Bilegulch Mine

A fine mist seemed to blanket the air as Faendal and I approached Bilegulch Mine. Jarl Siddgeir sent us to the mine in order to clear it of bandits. The Jarl is a shiftless character, content to sit on his throne and count his gold while making others get their hands dirty for him. That suits me, though. Getting my hands dirty is a small price to pay in exchange for gold. If I want to set up shop in Falkreath Hold, I'm going to have to get on Jarl Siddgeir's good side, and collecting the bounties is one of the ways to do that.

We approached Bilegulch as quietly as possible, hoping to scout out the situation before confronting the bandits within. It seems that either the clanging of my heavy armor or Faendal's deep, boredom laden sighs gave us away as we were attacked by a lone bandit once we were in sight of the defense perimeter. For an Orc, he didn't put up much of a fight. Faendal and I made quick work of him. "Try to be more stealthy from now on", I said to Faendal

Crouching down, we moved in through the gate and past the defensive walls. I couldn't resist checking out a nearby storage chest and looting the gold within. Obviously, this was part of the percentage that this group owed Jarl Siddgeir. Maybe they just hadn't gotten around to delivering it. Not my problem.

We spied two bandits atop the watch tower. I nodded to Faendal and we both drew our bows. I loosed mine first, and Faendal, as ever, was right behind. Both arrows hit their marks which brought the two bandits racing towards us. They proved to be no match for our arrows as they dropped dead well before they could reach us. The most trouble they gave us was their corpses littering our way up the stairs.

A full smithing station complete with a smelter sat outside the entrance to the mine. In a nearby cart, I found the reason why the Orc bandits were hiding out there: Orichalcum ore. Seems like the Jarl's Orc friends were looking to smith up some Orcish armor and weapons. They must not have gotten far, considering that the ones Faendal and I encountered were wearing nothing more than hide armor. Good thing we arrived when we did.

No doubt, the bandit leader was holed up within the mine itself. Mines are such dirty, dingy places; exactly the kind of place an Orc would be at home in. "Let's get this over with", I said to Faendal as we slipped past the door to the mine. We moved silently through the mine with our bows drawn. I could hear the bandit leader talking to himself. I could practically smell him as we inched closer. The moment he was in sight, I loosed my arrow. It went stray and missed, yet Faendal, as ever, hit his mark.

The arrow didn't do much to stop him, as the bandit leader was on top of me so fast that I barely had time to stand up and change weapons. He was in full-on berserker mode, practically ignoring every hit I scored on him while pummeling me soundly with his war hammer. Faendal kept shooting arrows at him from a distance, but they had little effect. If we didn't change tactics quickly, we'd both be done for.

I broke from the fight and ran further down into the mine. Just as I had hoped, the Orc ignored me and went straight after Faendal. I popped three minor healing potions before returning to the fray. Attacking from behind while Faendal kept the bandit busy from the front yielded better results. We were relentless, cutting into the bandit over and over again until his body simply gave out. We had won. It was a dirty victory, but a victory nonetheless. Faendal was so relieved, he didn't bother to chide me for leaving the fight for a moment.

We made a sweep of the mine and collected as much treasure and weapons as we could carry. I also mined all of the available Orichalcum ore. Even though I have no knowledge of Orcish forging, a pile of Orichalcum ingots would probably fetch a nice price from one of the merchants in town. Thank the Divines that I  had access to a full slate of smithing tools since I now technically controlled Bilegulch mine.