Always Lost, Always Hopeful (268) Fly to Your Grave

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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 inevitably reveals a lot about the game.
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previous day 






4-202-05-14 06:48
Uthgerd's House, Hviterun, Whiterun, Skyrim


We head east. The weather is still bad and the bandit on the road in front of Valtheim kind of rubs me the wrong way, so I not only kill her, but lead my followers inside and kill the bandits there as well. The sun comes out briefly. There is actually a large bed here and as much privacy one can ask for, so maybe we'll return here for our sex orgy the day after tomorrow?

Running towards the Hillgrund's Tomb, we get one more shower of rain, but by the time we reach the path up the mountain, the sun has come out again.

The path leads to an ancient-Nordic-looking ruin. In the small vestibule is a young man who seems very unhappy.

He introduces himself as Golldir. This is the tomb of his family, and when he heard his aunt Agna came here all alone, he rushed here but heard horrible voices from inside and doesn't dare go in all alone.

Okay. Let's have a look.

This is your usual draugr dungeon, not a very big one, but the draugrs are the fiercest we've ever seen. I get hurled across rooms and even knocked unconscious twice, and that is in spite of wearing high-grade Resist Shock  gear. It's sheer horror.

We find Golldir's aunt Agna's dead body. Why did the draugrs kill her if she was their relative? Because an evil mage, the enemy of Agna and Golldir's family, has settled down in this tomb, Golldir explains. He even has a Dragon Priest with him.

We kill them by the end, and we survive, including Golldir. But it was a terrible experience. More strongly than ever, I feel I must stop putting my followers into danger like this. We will do the Mzulft quest, because they stole books from the Winterhold College library, and that's something you don't to to my College. But after that, it may be a good idea to have a few weeks' rest before Lydia's birthday and my journey home.

Once we're back in the fresh air (see the picture above), we look for a way further uphill all the same, because it would be interesting to try and find that mountain fortress I saw in my recent dream. But it doesn't seem to be possible to reach it from here. So we travel to Darkwater.

We do some socializing and then relax in the warm outdoors pool with the villagers of both sexes. I'm curious to see if Ghorbash will be able to avoid getting a hard-on. He is, actually. Maybe he feels self-conscious in a new situation like this, maybe he is apprehensive because of the dragon whom we can see flying back and forth in the distance, or maybe he keeps thinking intensely about something very unerotic.

Ulfvidr seems to be spending more time here than in his shop.

I ask the locals if they have some kind of an agreement with the dragon. They say they don't and in fact they're wondering why he attacks only very rarely. Maybe he watches the Windhelm–Riften highway and therefore can't be bothered with this village where people are used to taking cover quickly.

Two hours later, at about six in the evening, I notice that Ghorbash has gotten an erection after all. I suggest maybe we should leave for Mzulft and spend the night in Northkeep.

After we've washed with Dwemer Soap, says Lydia.

Of course, Dwemer Soap! I would have completely forgotten it.

We go to a geysir a little farther and wash ourselves. Then we put on our armors while I warn Ghorbash that we may run past a giant but he's not aggressive and in fact he's our friend, so Ghorbash has to just run past him and in fact escape if necessary, but not attack him under any circumstances. We all run much faster than a giant. Bears, on the other hand, are very dangerous in this area and are to be attacked without hesitation.

Once again we give the bandit castle a wide berth. We do discover a Ruined Fort with two walking skeletons, though.

Running away from a bear, I wave hello to Billy and then we still end up having to kill two bears. On the road, we meet the trader Althea with her bodyguards, and then we run up the stairs towards Mzulft.

We start searching in the Dwarven Storeroom which, as you may remember, is somewhat away from the main compound. We find the remains of a human eaten by spiders. I can't even begin to imagine how painful and revolting it must have been. But he's way beyond help, or even identification.

Fortunately, the spiders haven't eaten a key and some notes that lead us to the whereabouts of a locked chest from which we find four books on Falmers.

By the way, where have all the spiders gone? Well, never mind, let's get out of here.

All we learn from the books is that there should be Falmers living in Alftand, which we already knew. I'm staying with my decision to not pursue this Falmer quest any further. I'll just return the books to Urag. But that can wait. We're on our way to the south right now, so we head for Vernim Wood where we catch a market trader still at work and hear some local news. Then we run to Shor under the most spectacular starry sky.

A little after ten, we reach Riften. I have little doubt Madesi will want sex. That's why I give Jordis the key to our house (assuming Lydia will stay with Maul at his new room in the palace) and go straight to the Black-Briar Manor where Madesi lives now. He is at home and very happy to see me.

next awakening






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Always Lost, Always Hopeful (43) Going Down... up to a Point

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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






4-201-09-28 05:32
Vilemyr Inn, Ivarsted, The Rift, Skyrim


We have so little loot that I see no point in waiting for the shops to open. While the sun is rising, we are already running downhill to the north, towards Lost Knife Hideout where we might find something interesting.

After crossing the river south of Nimalten, we ascend the hills and pass by Vaalmungar, apparently an ancient Nordic ruin which I won't bother to take a closer look at at this moment. We come to a very high slope with a magnificent view of a valley and roads and a fortress down below. Further to the east is that hot spring region, on the southwestern edge of which is Darkwater.

It's scary to descend, as well as thrilling to the extreme.

Nearly there.

I make it down almost uninjured and then magically summon the girls. It's not very successful this time. Lydia and Jenassa feel very bad and we need to give them some rest.

There's a fortress in a couple of hundred meters' distance. But it's not Lost Knife Hideout. That's a cave next to a little pond. There's no one outside nor anywhere else in sight. We go in.

Inside, there are caves and caverns. With some woodwork, they have been turned into impressive fortifications.

Fortunately for us, they're inadequately manned. The bandits have many good shooting positions on well-placed wooden platforms, but there are too few of the ones to do the shooting. The battles are a bit messy, but we're never really in danger, except in the very last cave where there are metal cages obstructing the view and very little room to maneuver. But even there my worry is largely unfounded, because the numbers are in our favor. I have the honor of taking down the bandit chief myself.

Loaded almost to capacity, we spend some time looking for the exit. Once when taking a wrong turn, I end up in a small cave with a live bandit inside. I use Paralyze  poison, just to be on the safe side. After the first hit, the bandit can no longer move, so I go on hitting him until he's dead. You could say that I chickened out and wasted a valuable poison unnecessarily, and you're probably right. I just don't feel confident in melee combat. In spite of my very powerful enchanted dagger, those brutal and fierce men come across as frighteningly strong compared to the fragile and vulnerable me.

Sorry about the chatter. We finally find our way out. I'm curious about that fortress, but considering the load we're carrying, this is not the time to take on another (presumably) bandit gang. So we head for nearby Darkwater. (Is that fortress Fort Amol, I ask myself later. It's well possible that I simply failed to recognize it, approaching from this unusual angle.)

I'm not awfully fond of dogs, but I love foxes. They're adorable.

In Darkwater we are greeted by a dragon. He flies around, like, endlessly, while we shoot arrows in his direction, but finally he sits down and I succeed in extinguishing his flickering life. The civilians in the village had hidden in houses and in the mine, but unfortunately a little boy Torfi is lying dead on the street. He was the son of the shopkeeper Ulfvidr and his wife Gilsa. I feel so sad for them. No matter how much you warn boys, they still have the tendency to get themselves in danger and fail to get back to safety in time.

I do a lot of smithing, but by the time I'm finished, Ulfvidr has already decided to close shop and go to enjoy the warm-water outdoors pool. So my girls and I do the same. Everyone's naked there, men and women, they are very relaxed about nudity here.

In less than an hour, though, I disappoint my followers by ordering them to climb out of the water and get dressed. It's too early to call it a day. We'll travel to Vernim Wood and spend the night there. Maybe I'm being too heartless to my girls, but there are shops in Vernim Wood. Of course, they will have already closed for tonight, but we'll be able to sell most or all of our loot tomorrow morning and reach Windhelm early enough to actually do something meaningful during the day. For that matter, I've been thinking that we should go to Solstheim. I'm sure the Pigmasks won't leave us alone.

I'm not at all certain we're strong enough to take on that "Lord Miraak". I've had terrible nightmares of Solstheim in the past. However, it's something I have to take care of eventually. At least we can sail over and have a look, and return to Skyrim if things turn out overwhelming.

The sun has already gone down as we run east on the edge of the warm water ponds area. Suddenly, I stop dead in my tracks because I notice a fortress ahead of us. It must be the same one we saw a few days ago from the distance. I can sense a bandit next to the small gate, but I can't tell if he's inside or outside, and it's too far to see him with physical eyes in this darkness. I take a shot just in case. He falls down. So he was on the outside. Now two more bandits in the courtyard have become restless. To cut the long story short, we sneak in and kill half a dozen bandits outdoors. It feels like a good battle, except that when it's all over, I notice I've been hit real bad. It's not yet life-threatening, but I can't believe I got so carried away by heat of the combat (or call it bloodthirst if it pleases you) that I wasn't paying attention to my defenses. I could have gotten killed here.

Without bothering to go into the fortress interior, we proceed to the east, past that Dwemer ruin-of-a-ruin and the peaceful giant (I'm beginning to wonder if we could get friends with him), and soon we're on that road that goes from Vernim Wood northwards to Windhelm. We're turning right, to the south.

After a short leisurely trot, we arrive in Vernim Wood where we spend the night in the friendly and comfortable inn.



next awakening