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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
4-201-11-30 06:27
Frostfruit Inn, Roriksted, Whiterun, Skyrim
I open my eyes feeling wonderfully rested and happy. After our bath, the girls and I have an unhurried breakfast in the taproom and revel in the friendly atmosphere.
Lydia knows why Erik wouldn't sleep with me last night: he was embarrassed of his father noticing he wasn't sleeping in his room. She's probably right. Such things are always awkward when parents are around.
The sky is almost entirely covered with clouds, but it's not raining. Several children are already up, running around the village in pursuit of their important childish undertakings. We too feel energetic and can't be bothered to wait for the shops to open.
As for our plans, I suddenly think of a relatively big forn camp (which may even qualify as a village) I have seen several times very vividly in my dreams.
Jenassa says it could be Karthspire and it's supposed to be on an island in the Karth river. It runs from south to north between here and Karthwasten, but she doesn't know where the island may be.
Funny we haven't discovered it yet, having run back and forth all over The Reach, as I feel we have. Anyway, my map shows that directly to the west from Roriksted is a large island in the river and that area is practically unknown to us yet.
But for the island, we would take the road north from Roriksted that leads to the bridge east of Karthwasten.
I decide I want to check out that island today, since we're so close to it. Afterwards, if we cross the river somewhere, we'll be able to reach the Morpork–Karthwasten road and will have made only a small detour.
Apart from general curiosity, I'm also eager to achieve my goal of slaying 100 forns to avenge the death of Rayya. We've killed 86 so far.
There's a small mountain range west of Roriksted. We run to the northwest in order to bypass it from the north.
On the other side of the mountains, we see a lonely country house and are attacked by skeevers. We go in and encounter more skeevers who are dead before my brain has even the chance to propely notice them. Well done, girls.
In one corner is a bed with a dead man on it. His name is Lund, but we can't find any clue as to what might have happened to him. Maybe he was simply overwhelmed by the skeevers and there was nothing mysterious about his death.
We exit Lund's Hut and head west. A path leads through between two mountain ranges, past Soljund's Sinkhole and onto a rocky slope descending towards the river. We sneak down with utmost caution. I notice some structures. Yess!! That's the place: a system of wooden platforms and walkways above the river surface.
Somewhat away from the actual camp is a tent with a hagraven. (At the foot of the slope in the above picture.) She sees me as soon as I stick my sneaking nose out from behind our cover. From that distance, however, she poses no threat to us while we can shoot arrows into her easily.
By the time we've descended all the way to the ground, the camp is stirring. With their acute senses, the children of nature have noticed something's wrong, but they haven't spotted our killing of the hagraven, so they don't know in which direction we are. (Shouldn't we have stayed on the high slope, shot a few random arrows into the camp and let the forns attempt a near-hopeless uphill attack? This thought occurs to me only the next day.)
We sneak closer. The forns detect us not only from nearby, but also from great distances way out of range of my Sense of Smell power.
Note the man coming from the left, about to descend the staircase. He'll be in the next picture too.
We can barely see them, but that doesn't prevent them from hitting us – with arrows as well as magic. Only thanks to health potions do we survive the onslaught and eventually kill them.
We have been entertained to the fullest, and if the 11 forns who fought the 4 of us had kept more into cover and attacked all at the same time, they might have even won.
This must be the tough mage we killed last.
As always, we loot the camp, including all the dead.
Now we cross over to that large river island. Exploring it, we eventually find a cave entrance. In the caves, we kill three more forns.
It's rare to get to see from such a close range a mage defending himself with a ward.
Exploring passages, we end up in an open space without a way forward and three pillar-switches which apparently need to be in correct positions. I adjust them until a stone bridge is lowered to our left. We cross it and reach a room where I, ahead of my followers, suddenly find myself engulfed in bursts of fire. Must have stepped on a pressure plate. We quickly run through the room and find ourselves on the edge of a cliff. It would seem that another bridge needs to be lowered here, and it looks like it should have been done by placing those three switches into a combination different from the current.
The only thing we can do is to go back – through that very same room, and once again we find ourselves attacked by flame beams from every direction. Running through, I lose almost all my health within seconds. Miraculously, all my followers survive. We could have easily gotten killed here, the lot of us. I'm convinced this is a warning from the gods: I mustn't hold myself for a god. I have no right to sentence the forn nation to 100 deaths.
I'll keep that in mind and try to be less high-handed from now on.
We heal ourselves and rush out of this horrible place. We have killed exactly 14 forns today, so my goal of 100 is reached. Except that I don't feel too triumphant, not after the recent close encounter with my and my followers' own death.
Back on the island, we find a way to the western riverbank and reach a northward road. Less than an hour later, we're in Karthwasten where we help the village guards kill an attacking dragon. After quick shopping, we proceed northwest. The weather has been fine all the time.
We cross some hills and find a place called Harmugstahl – moderate-sized constructions with a door (picture above, left). What do we think, girls?
They agree with me that there's no reason to waste time going into what looks like a draugr dungeon. We have our destination. Let's stick to the plan.
As the evening approaches, we continue to run over the hills. We see a mage fighting two skeletons. I feel he's not hostile. He turns out to be a virr. A quite handsome man, in fact.
Over the next hilltop, we see the fence of what seems to be the Orc village Mor Khazgur we haven't visited yet.
"Mr. Sabercat, can we just pass here?" I ask under my breath. I don't think he'd understand human language. I feel so reluctant to kill that magnificent animal. We're a few hundred meters away from the village. Are we good enough at sneaking to get there unnoticed by the sabercat?
Yes, we are. We reach the fence and the majestic feline walks unhurriedly the other way.
You're right – I have the dragon shout that makes animals friendly. It didn't occur to me until later. :-)
Unable to yell to the people inside because the sabercat would hear us and might attack, we spend considerable time looking for the gate. Once inside, we greet the chief Larak and then walk around. The villagers seem to be leading their normal peaceful lives.
That's a charred skeever.
Unfortunately, the traders won't trade anymore. Apparently they quit working at 6 in the evening. However, I am most happy to find they have an orichalcum mine instead of the usual iron.
Our most interesting find, though, is back in the village. A woman named Borgakh confesses to us she dreams secretly of leaving her community and becoming an adventurer, but instead she has to wait for the day when she's going to be married to a man from another Orc settlement.
When I suggest that maybe leaving is not such a big crime after all, she agrees that maybe it isn't.
I ask Mikki if she's had enough yet. Does she want to return home after what happened to us in Karthspire?
No, she doesn't. That's the spirit! I inform Borgakh I'm giving her some time to think things over. I'll come and visit her again someday.
It's past 8 when we depart for the north, but it's not too dark, because there are few clouds and the two moons give plenty of light.
The moons are called Masser and Secunda, in case you didn't know yet.
On our way is a Forsworn Camp. I think it's the same place where we slept once in the past. There are two new forns who have made this place their home after we killed the previous occupants. They spot us in spite of the poor light, but they're no match for us. There's a tent nearby. Sure enough, it's the same place.
I call a meeting. Should we sleep here, which would mean starting out at something like 4 in the morning, or proceed now and hope there'll be a place to sleep in Rimerock Burrow? I know Mikki would prefer a soft bed over these hay piles, but what do the others think?
Mikki is offended. She says I shouldn't hold her for such a softie. I hurry to assure her I was just joking and in fact she's been the toughest warrior among us this first full day of her service. Lydia and Jenassa rush to agree.
We'll spend the night here then.
next awakening
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