———————————————
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.
———————————————
previous day
4-201-11-11 07:48
The Grinning Goblin Inn, Karthwasten, The Reach, Skyrim
After quick shopping, we leave by the road that goes to the southwest. I want to check out Morpork one last time.
My followers tell me that when they sat in the taproom last night while I was away, the locals told them in great detail about the Silver-Blood family that rules in Morpork. They're a really bad lot. Whoever stands up against the rampant corruption in the city, or simply asks questions about something he's not supposed to, will find himself arrested by the city guards (who are on the Silver-Bloods' payroll) and thrown into the silver mine (that belongs to the Silver-Bloods) where he has to work as a slave.
That was not too surprising, but it's further rumored that occasionally the Silver-Bloods instigate forn chieftains to attacking Morpork. They promise to secretly assist in the attack, but in fact they capture the forns, thereby getting new slaves for their mine and at the same time convincing the jarl and the population that without the Silver-Bloods, the city would be overran and its population massacred in no time.
If that's true, the Silver-Bloods are the worst mafia family yet. They make even Maven Black-Briar look like a pleasant person.
We pass by the Blind Cliff Cave, but our hope to be able to slay a few more forns is frustrated ‐ the place is deserted.
We make a stop at the Kolskeggr Mine to say hello to Pavo and use the opportunity to mine us some gold.
Now that we've chased the bandits away, the authorities have even sent here a guard.
Soon we arrive at the crossing of the Hviterun–Morpork highway.
In Morpork, Jordis is visibly very eager to be with Hreinn (I can see she's got him hooked as well), so we stay a couple of hours. Nothing has changed in the city, though. The marketplace is still abandoned, the jarl and the steward are unreachable and most merchants won't trade. I give up trying to understand. We just walk around sightseeing. When Jordis is done, we head east.
Even though I would like to reach Hviterun tonight, and along the way we should visit a place not far from the highway in order to search for a book Urag wanted for the College library, I decide to pay a brief visit to Dushnikh Yal. On our way there, we see a battle between storks and thalmors.
The poor fox has realized he's in a terribly wrong place.
I have so far been strictly neutral in stork-imp conflicts, but thalmors are different. Apart from which, they carry really cool gear. So we enter the battle on the storks' side and help them kill the thalmors. The storks remain cautious, because they can't quite figure out what our game is. Neither are we going to hang around and socialize. Having looted the corpses, we move on.
In Dushnikh Yal, everything is normal. I sell some stuff and buy some metal ingots and then we move on. Nearby is a small Dwemer tower named Reachwind Eyrie.
It's just a little tower, nothing more. Some loot, no enemies. Nice view from the top.
We make another shopping stop in Granite Hall. On the outskirts, we see the dead body of M'aiq the Liar. I guess I haven't told you about him. He's a wandering Khajiit philosopher or madman, I'm not sure which. (It's basically the same thing, says Jenassa.) I've never been able to make sense of his statements, but he's completely harmless. Not even a narcotics dealer. Now someone has killed him. I'm not going to ask the guards if they know who did it. Dead is dead. There's nothing we can do for him now. The town priests will take it from here.
We can, however, do something to save our own lives when a group of Pigmasks attacks us just outside of the Granite Hall guards' sight. These ones are pretty easy to kill for a change.
The sun is beginning to go down as we continue running to the east:
We've plenty of daylight left to reach that Sunderstone Gorge place or what was it called, but we probably won't be in Hviterun tonight. It's no problem. We can just as well spend the night in Northkeep.
To get to Sunderstone Gorge, we'll have to turn right at the Little Northeep Intersection. We reach it at 7 o'clock in the evening and are attacked by several mages:
I'm baffled when I realize it's Pigmasks again. Are they bored in Solstheim, or standing in for the Skyrim bandits who have lost their lives?
We destroy this group. And then an elk comes charging downhill from the southeast:
Every elk I've ever seen so far has been afraid of humans, but this one almost runs me over and then keeps running around me as if he wanted something from me. I wonder if I'm carrying something that smells like a female elk.
Finally my unusual admirer leaves and we can move on to Sunderstone Gorge. There's not a living soul there. We find the book Urag wanted, "The Waters of Oblivion". It's not too interesting as far as I'm concerned.
It's gotten pretty dark outside, but I figure it's not yet too late to travel to Hviterun after all. We should be able to reach it just in time to go to sleep and do some shopping in the morning and then proceed east-northeast to get that information about that weird glowing thing in Winterhold. Or should we visit Rudelphine in Riverwood first? Maybe even go to Aurora for the night??
Lydia reminds me that the jarl of Whiterun wanted a bandit leader killed in Rhothgar's Watch Ruins which is quite near. I decide we'll do that right now.
On our way there, we see a mage in combat against what looks like a spriggan.
The lightshow is quite beautiful in the darkness. The battle doesn't last very long. The mage loses and I shoot the winner from a safe distance.
It bursts out in flames which spread onto a wide area, almost reaching me. So it was a flame atronach, not a spriggan. But who conjured it? As far as I know, atronachs don't just walk around on their own. Well, your guess is as good as mine. I loot the corpse of the mage (it's a she) and we head east.
Rhothgar's Watch Ruins is located near the highway, just before the crossing with the Falkert highway. I remember the place now. It begins with large caverns and then turns into an underground ruin of some ancient fortress. It's the place where we had that messy fight against many enemies in narrow spaces. In fact, a few of those mysterious Summerset assassins are still there. We kill them, but we can't find anyone who'd answer to the description "bandit leader". We look everywhere. There's not a living soul left. So we just have to leave none the wiser. Somebody must have beaten us to this quest. Either that, or the bandits got into conflict with that group of assassins.
I've made up my mind now. We'll spend the night in Northkeep.
It's a short run. We reach the town around midnight and go to sleep at the inn without any further ado.
next awakening
