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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
4-201-09-20 07:25
Moorside Inn, Morthal, Hjaalmarch, Skyrim
It's a lovely morning. Undisturbed by the cold and snow, I set to work on our gear.
Is someone going to remove the dead body of Alva, or is it supposed to remain lying here for three days to serve as a warning?
Around noon, I'm finished with reequipping the girls and selling our loot, and go to tell the jarl about Alva's journal. She orders me to destroy that master vampire Movarth whose lair is quite close to the town. She says she has gathered together some able-bodied warriors.
We are an impressive sight. However, when we reach Movarth's Lair, those "warriors", able-bodied as they may be, suddenly chicken out. Only Thonnir agrees to come inside with me and my followers. I'm all right with that. Those well-meaning amateurs would probably only get killed, to say nothing of getting in my way.
The destruction of the vampires is a bloody mess. The skirmish is beyond confusing. In the most critical moment, I realize that now that several minor vampires have been killed, I can use the Ritual Stone power to awaken them to fight on our side. I think that's what helps me and all my followers to come out of this horror alive. Not Thonnir, though. But he had nothing left to live for anyway. Probably looking to die, he was.
Approaching the exit, I see the ghost of Helgi again. I give my followers a sign to leave ahead of me while I step up to the ghost:
Tears are running down my cheeks. I feel profound gratitude for having been able to help Helgi find peace.
After the ghost has disappeared, I spend some time composing myself and then leave the cave and catch up with my followers. We go and report to the jarl. She says she'll appoint me thane after I've done some more favors to her people. Good.
There seems to be plenty of daylight left for us to reach Dånstar today. We'll spend the night there and then it's Windhelm or Hviterun.
Our last endeavor in Morthal is a visit to the small shop of a man named Fjolmund. He informs us his wife was killed by a vampire who lives in a place called Mara's Eye Pond between Hviterun and Windhelm. He asks us to kill the vampire. He's very emotional and I can understand how recalling something as tragic as this can make one upset, but I still can't get rid of the feeling that he's hiding something. But that's hardly my business. When there's a vampire to kill, I'm not going to fail to.
Just as we're approaching the town gate to depart for Dånstar, we hear a dragon roaring in the sky above us. I look at him hopefully. No, he won't just fly past. He attacks Morthal.
No, that's a bird. :-)
This is the one.
He lands, then takes off again, then lands again. We bring him to low health pretty quickly, but then he disappears behind the town wall. I'm so angry for this appalling waste of time. I run to finish him off, but no matter how much I search, I can't find the side gate. There was a gate to the west yesterday. Where's it gone? Muttering horrible curses, I run out the northern gate. By the time I've reached the approximate area where the dragon was, he has flown into the town again. Livid with rage, I have to run all the way back again, as the western gate seems to have vanished into, um, thick wall.
I finally find the damned beast and, standing almost on his muzzle, shoot arrows into him. He damages me too, but he's already so close to death that he has no chance of endangering me. It's the infuriating difficulty of chasing those disgusting creatures down and the pointlessness of fighting them in the first place that drives me mad.
Please forgive me. I got carried away again. In the future, I will not bore you by telling you how angry I get fighting dragons. I'll presume you know it without needing to be told.
Because of the delay, it's past 7 when we can finally get moving northeastwards. Soon we see a battle between imps and storks and wait it out, of course. It doesn't last very long.
At half past 8, I'm surprised to see lights in the darkness ahead of us. Windows. Houses. A whole village:
Stonehills has an iron mine and no inn, but there are tents with sleeping mats around the campfire in the center of the village. We knock on house doors and talk to people, without learning anything of interest except that the conditions for mining are very tough in this location, but, on the other hand, demand for iron has risen because of the war, so business is good. The miners are simple rough people, but they're friendly towards us, and they allow us to sleep in those tents for free. As it's already dark and I'm very sleepy, I decide we'll spend the night here. The quarters are a bit cramped, but there are some women here too, so I don't think we'll be in danger of getting molested.
A bit of a philosopher, aren't we?
next awakening
