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SPOILER INFO
This fanfic novel is largely based on the events that occurred in an actual game of Skyrim I played. Therefore, it's inevitably a spoiler.
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previous day
4-201-08-20 09:51
The Bannered Mare, Hviterun, Whiterun, Skyrim
I'm maybe not too well rested, but feel great all the same.
We head for Riverwood.
This is the plan: we'll go past the house in the above picture and the one behind it. Then we'll turn right, onto the Hviterun–Riverwood road. Before having quite reached Riverwood, we'll have to turn off the main road onto a mountain path (the one Camilla showed me, remember?) that should lead to that mysterious and sinister place called Bleak Falls Barrow.
Jenassa has been there many years ago. She says there are likely to be living dead inside (similar to what we saw in the Hall of the Dead) and possibly normal human bandits lurking outside, but it shouldn't be too bad. Heidi is very enthusiastic, evidently energized by our yesterday's adventure. I am apprehensive, because of what Hadvar told me. If it gives him the creeps, how could I expect to handle it?
Then again, he said it gave him nightmares when he was a boy . As for now, he only said "I still don't much like the look of it." So it's not necessarily that bad. He has never actually been to the place. Should we perhaps drop by in Riverwood and invite him to accompany us? [Laughing.]
Just joking. I wouldn't embarrass a good man like this.
The road to Riverwood runs parallelly to the river for a while. In the next picture, Hviterun is behind us and a little to our right.
I feel awesome here. The weather is fine and the snowy mountains look lovely.
I'm telling you all this, because I want to enjoy every second to the fullest, because I can imagine we'll be spending this evening in a dim, disgusting and dangerous place. But it has to be done.
Soon after turning onto that mountain path, we arrive by a tower. There's a bandit who sees us first in spite of us sneaking, and then another one.
Well, they end up simply overwhelmed by the three of us (no, not by our looks; they're overwhelmed by our weapons and fighting skills) and lie down, dead.
Turns out this tower is not yet our destination. Just a small structure inhabited by men who had the misfortune of being in our way. (Wait, no, their misfortune was the decision to attack us. We would have just walked past minding our own business.) We proceed along the path, higher and higher. It becomes colder as we ascend until everything is white. The air in front of our eyes is full of snowflakes driven mercilessly forward by the whistling wind.
To tell you the truth, I'm slightly worried that maybe I made a mistake taking the best bow from Heidi – she'd probably be able to use it more efficiently than I would. But I have no time to dwell on it, as I'm already seeing movement on that strange stone structure ahead of us. My sneaking is efficient this time – I can see a human figure walking to the near end of a stone bridge or walkway, yet he is not seeing me. I aim carefully and shoot. He's killed. I know the theoretical principle that arrows cause more damage when the shooter is in the sneak mode and undetected (for the simple reason that the target has no chance to protect himself or dodge), but I still feel exultant. Just imagine, one shot and the target is dead! It feels almost as good as an orgasm. Although, on second thought, it's sad when people die. And this is no time for philosophy, because there are two or three more bandits on that stone structure. They need time to cover the distance between us before they can hit us, but the girls and I have difficulties aiming at them running, so it more or less evens out. It's a good battle.
One thing that is slightly annoying is that Heidi conjures a Wolf Spirit when she goes to battle, but my Sense of Smell power marks it as hostile. On the other hand, that "wolf spirit" is a temporary magical projection anyway, so it doesn't matter if it gets accidentally shot at.
After killing the bandits, we wade through the snow and up the slippery stone steps to a huge metal door. We enter as quietly as we can and find ourselves in a big hall with stone pillars that is overfilled with all kinds of rubbish. At the far end is a campfire. I also have a clear view of a standing human being. He is not noticing us. (How come opening and closing a heavy door like this fails to attract the attention of the people inside? Sometimes the world seems very illogical to me.) I manage to put an arrow into him. Now another person appears. We succeed in killing them both. The first one, the one I wounded, turns out to be a woman.
I notice sleeping mats on the floor and realize I actually feel sleepy. The time is past 4 in the afternoon. Should I get some sleep while I can? I mean, normally I try to use the daylight, as well as business hours, and sleep when it's dark, but it makes no difference in a dungeon, we can just as well work at night. On the other hand, if we sleep 7 hours now and happen to finish the dungeon by 2 or 3 in the night, and arrive in Riverwood, say, an hour later, we'll have to hang around for several hours with nothing to do.
I finally decide to go to sleep now. Heidi is whinging about sleeping next to the bandit corpses, but I tell her bluntly she is free to stay up and keep watch for the entire 7 hours instead of taking turns with Jenassa. Without caring what kind of an arrangement the two come up with, I lay myself down to rest.
next awakening
