Deflorator's game, 25–27 Last Seed (Hviterun – Little Vivec)

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SPOILER INFO
This unfinished story follows closely my actions in an actual game, so it's inevitably a spoiler.
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previous chapter






The author has chosen to remove the text of this unfinished game report, because he is no longer happy with it.

Adorable scenery at Half-Moon Mill

next chapter

Always Lost, Always Hopeful (13) All Well That Ends Well?

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SPOILER INFO
This fanfic novel is 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






4-201-08-29 07:04
Dead Man's Drink, Falkert, Falkreath, Skyrim


Lydia has joined us during the night. I leave my followers sleeping and go to the taproom. Talsgar is there and there's nothing I can do to avoid him. He evidently spent the night with Vera, only he tells it to me vaguely and at great length, using greasy and sleazy hints which he probably believes to be witty. He is so arrogant and disgusting that I'm having difficulties refraining from throwing my breakfast into his face.

My new friend Valdr enters. I greet him cheerfully and he nods back, but sits down in a farther corner. Luckily Jenassa and Rayya turn up and we go have a bath together.

There's apparently a celebration coming up. The town is decorated with colored flags.

Rayya draws my attention to a mysterious structure up the mountain ridge
(on the left, about halfway to the top) that looks artificial. She doesn't know what it is.
The direction is east-northeast. Got to remember to explore it someday.

That topic I said yesterday I wanted to talk about to Lydia only – you may have guessed it was that breast-increasing spell. I think Lydia just has to have good breasts, because she's otherwise so beautiful. This morning, I do tell her. Of course I'm not saying in her face that there's something wrong with her breasts.
I was if not quite terrified than certainly apprehensive of how Lydia would react to my suggestion and if I would be able to phrase it delicately enough. So I'm greatly relieved when Lydia looks delighted and excited. Her trust in me is touching.
Nevertheless, I want to make sure everything is safe. So we'll do it at the magic shop in Aurora this evening. Kaldred looks trustworthy enough.

Now I visit a shop called  Ayleid Artifacts  which was closed the last time we were in town. The shopkeeper is a middle-aged man Nuri. I have no idea who the Ayleids are or were, but in order to strike up a conversation, I ask Nuri if he studies the Ayleids. He says he does and they are such a fascinating civilization and whatnot. He is very secretive about his research, but something has made me so curious that I just have to press him further. Finally I manage to wheedle it out of him that there are four mystical stones in various places in Skyrim which would be very valuable to him. I promise to find them.

Very pleased with my conversational success, so to speak, I step out of the shop. It's almost 11 o'clock. Perfect timing! Oh, I haven't told you yet. That strange abandoned house opposite the watermill, remember? I have re-read all the notes I found there, and learned that the woman whom that so-called monster adored would appear at 12 every day near the waterfall from which the river flows to this very watermill. Meaning, now, an hour before noon, is exactly the right time for me to go and find the waterfall and wait for the woman. I won't be taking my followers, because it might scare her.

I follow the river upstream. It turns into a shallow creek. I find the right place. It's not noon yet, but the woman is already there. Regrettably, she is dead.

I take an enchanted ring from her corpse. I presume it can be used somehow to open that door in the cellar. That's good, but I feel sad for the woman.

It occurs to me that being a thane now, my standing is reasonably secure here, so I can take a chance and kill that bastard Solaf. Why put it off?

It has to be done in such a manner that he won't shout for help and cause the town guards to rush in. The problem is that when people see you, they often sense that you intend to attack them. The gift is highly individual and most developed in mages and professional warriors. (You simply don't survive long when you lack the sense of hostility  as it's commonly called.) Solaf doesn't look like either, but I don't want to risk more than necessary.

After some discussion, the girls and I come up with the following plan. I go to the shop, strip naked and pretend to be horny. This gets Solaf confused, probably even irritated, at any rate very distracted from thinking of a potential physical attack. Lydia and Jenassa will enter a little later, having found a moment when no one is paying attention. With any luck, I will have be able to hug Solaf tightly by then, or even manage to take his penis into my mouth. Rayya will remain keeping watch outside the door and make sure no one enters the shop. She's the one who knows the locals and knows how to talk to them in a right way.

As proper as it would be to deliver the death blow myself, it is clear to all of us that it would be unfeasible. Jenassa says she has no problem with killing Solaf on my behalf, and a second later Lydia volunteers to do the same. I choose Lydia, because Solaf, being a Nord, might be more suspicious of an elf approaching him than of another Nord.

While Solaf will surely be embarrassed by her sort-of-girlfriend's crazy behavior, the girls and I are going to act and talk normally as if nothing was wrong. From there, we'll just have to improvise. In the worst case, Jenassa can assist us from the distance with a magical staff.

I go into the shop. Solaf is standing behind his counter. I go into the corner to his right. He doesn't take his eyes off me. I quickly cast off my armor.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asks, baffled.
"Wanna fuck my ass?" I try to sound sexy, but I rather seem nervous to myself.
"I didn't know you're such a whore!"
"Yes, I'm your horny whore!" I bounce my breasts on my palms. I can see he's torn between disgust and lust.
The door opens. Solaf jumps and turns around quickly. Lydia and Jenassa enter and greet politely.
"For heaven's sake, put your clothes on!" he snaps at me and turns to my followers. I'm not sure he even recognizes them. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if he has ever seen them, but that's really not something to dwell upon right now.
"What's wrong?" asks Lydia. "Don't you want her?"
"Huh?" Now Solaf is certain to think the world has gone crazy.
"You're right, you know," says Lydia with a smile.
"Right about what?"
"She's no good. I suck a lot better. Would you rather have it upstairs or here?"
Solaf can't even think of what to reply before I bend down, take my dagger Nettlebane from its sheath attached to my armor, leap to him and stab him from behind. I pull out the dagger and stab him quickly two more times. Solaf falls down and I step up to him carefully and slit his throat, just to be on the safe side. "This is for calling me a whore," I whisper to his lifeless body.
I stand up and look at Lydia. We are both trembling. "Well played," says Jenassa, cool as a cucumber. "Yes, I will never tell anyone," she adds, seeing me open my mouth. "You'd better get dressed."
"I know that," I reply peevishly. I have some blood on me. Lucky I'm naked, save the boots which I wipe clean. "Thanks, girls." We have a quick hug and leave for the inn.

Everything looks calm on the street.

I inform the innkeeper Valga that we found Solaf dead.
"Thank you," she replies to my utter astonishment.
Somewhat speechless, I ask if I may use the bath. She says: of course.
After I have cleaned up, I ask Rayya if she has any idea what it was all about. She says she doesn't know any details, but the word is that Solaf and Valga had a relationship in the past, but then she began to hate him. The implication is obvious.
I ask Rayya if she wants to know why I wanted Solaf dead. She says I can tell her if and when I want to. I reply I'll tell her some other time then.
We return to the taproom. Valga refuses my money and says not to worry: she and her serving girl Narri will tell the captain of the guards a plausible story about some disreputable strangers. And I'm in good books with the jarl anyway.
I still can't think of much to say. I thank Valga and leave with my followers.

"Narri must have seen us entering the shop," Jenassa explains.
"Possibly," I reply. "By the way, I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier."
"Oh, don't be silly. I'm not offended."
Suddenly I must laugh. It went pretty well, really.

We walk around leisurely. Among other things, I have a chat with an old man Dengeir, an uncle of Siddgeir. He was the previous jarl. He says he was deposed because he supported the storks. He is very bitter and asks me to break into the house of Lod the blacksmith and steal a letter he has been writing – to the imps, Dengeir suspects. No, I'm certainly not going to have any part in that.

Then we travel to Little Vivec to report to Bal-Ran. He believes the bandits were killed by that mysterious visitor of his. It's clearly the same man Mandyn Hlaalu is looking for. This time Bal-Ran agrees to reveal to me where he was headed. It's a place in the far east of Skyrim. Bal-ran categorically refuses to tell me what they talked about and what the man is up to, but urges me to think before I act. I hate such secretiveness, but there's nothing I can do.

Belvadyr's house is straight ahead and Selyse's shop is the one you can see on the right.
To our right, outside the frame, goes another walkway that connects this islet to Toren and Taren's.

I thought I had gotten quite wealthy by now, but Aurora and Little Vivec have so many trainers between them that I'm soon down to my last couple hundred septims (which I have to keep in reserve to be able to afford lodging).

Before turning in, Lydia and I have one more business to take care of. We go to Kaldred's magic shop. After our whispered conversation, she asks her husband to take a little walk outside. Then Lydia strips from the waist up and I use the spell on her. Lydia is amusingly scared and somewhat confused afterwards. I can see she's indeed been very self-conscious about the size of her breasts. I'm sure she'll be most happy with them once she gets used to them. Rayya, FYI, has proper breasts already and Jenassa's are not very large but look adorable on her body. (Gosh, I'm not sure I should even tell you about such things!)

We thank Kaldred and return to the inn. It's still quarter to 9, but I feel strangely tired – emotionally, not physically, from everything that's happened today – so I decide to go to sleep and have a very early start tomorrow. We will not return to Hviterun just yet, because the place where I believe to remember Arkngthamz to be, that enigmatic location from my dream the other night, is in the west and not very far, and I'm dying to see it.



next awakening






return to the table of contents

Always Lost, Always Hopeful (12) Less Work for Me

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SPOILER INFO
This fanfic novel is 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






4-201-08-28 07:11
Aurora Borealis Inn, Aurora, Falkreath, Skyrim


I have rested well on this very modest bed. This shows how tired I must have been last night.

We have breakfast with the innkeeper and his nice family. Then we go out.

I want to explore Little Vivec alone. Looking for it, I walk past an alchemy shop. The proprietress Skarla is sweeping the porch. I keep her company and let her fill me in on what's going on in the village. She's only a couple of years my elder and we find a common language easily.

She also points out Little Vivec to me:

Skarla tells me it's inhabited by elves who keep largely to themselves. Even though Aurora and Little Vivec are as good as one and the same village geographically, there is little communication between them. The people of Little Vivec sometimes pass through Aurora (because you can't get practically anywhere from Little Vivec without passing through Aurora), but they never stop at the Aurora inn to have a drink and socialize. Skarla thinks it's a great pity. She's hasn't been able to find herself a good boyfriend, which is why she's really keen to get to know the men whom she can see working across the water, but she has no idea how to go about it.

Little Vivec is located on four tiny islands, one house on each and wooden bridges between them. Most interesting!

There's a boy named Albert sitting in front of the first house. He's playing a game where he and his dog have to save the world. I wish him luck and enter the house. It's a shop of an elven woman Selyse. She tells me the village was founded by elves who emigrated from the city of Windhelm in the eastern Skyrim where Ulfric Stormcloak, apparently the same man with whom I was brielfy imprisoned together, was making their life unbearable. The village is ruled (sort of) by a man Belvadyr who apparently has a high opinion of himself but is not respected very much by the other villagers.

Selyse would very much like me to find some ingredients she has had difficulties getting. I ask her if she has talked about it with Skarla from Aurora. Selyse replies Skarla is quite pointless. Sensing she's uncomfortable with the topic for some reason, I leave it at that and promise to do what I can.

The next person I see is Belvadyr himself.

He is very jovial and... how should I put it... grandiloquent? I'm not sure if that's the right word. I'm not good with fancy words, and neither, must I say, is he. Anyway, there's no reason to dwell on him longer. Suffice to say that when he offers me a job as his official courier, I refuse – politely, but he still takes offense.

Belvadyr's wife Velyna works nearby in the vegetable garden. She is very friendly but remarkably unintelligent and disinterested in everything. I'm sure she and her husband get along very well and I'm happy for them.

I succeed, however, in bringing the conversation onto the topic of men in general, and eventually I get a chance to ask her if she has seen any interesting men recently. Velyna says a mysterious man came to Little Vivec a few days ago. He went to see Bal-Ran who lives in a shack on the next islet on my route. Her husband was somewhat displeased with the stranger's unwillingness to talk to him. She has no idea what the man's business with Bal-Ran may have been, but she describes the stranger's looks to me in great detail.

I thank her and move on to say hello to Bal-Ran. He's a no-BS-looking elf (right, they're all elves here), a hunter and an expert archer. He asks me to eliminate a group of bandits at a place called Moss Creek Camp further southeast, and bring the leader's helmet back to him as proof. When I ask him about a stranger who visited him recently, he refuses to tell me anything. This has to mean he did indeed meet that stranger and they said a lot more to each other than just "how do you do?"

The last house belongs to two twin brothers Toren and Taren. Toren, according to himself, is able and industrious while Taren is a lazy good-for-nothing, as well as (yikes!) very fond of women. I can't verify that information with Taren right now, so I just return to Aurora.

I spend the next hours exploring Aurora and do some shopping and training.

The blacksmith's name is Ursula. She is friendly and doesn't mind talking and working at the same time.

Aurora has a well-equipped magic shop with a friendly proprietress, an oldish woman Kaldred. Today she teaches me a spell called Clairvoyance  which helps you find your way around.

Lydia catches me on my way back to the main street. We chat a little about this and that, and then she says:
"You know what, Laura?"
"What?"
"Should it happen that something is too personal to tell Jenassa and Vera, you can tell just me."
"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"
Lydia's face is perfectly serious. "Yes, I would."
I get serious too. "Good to know. I will. In fact, there is something I've been wanting to tell only you."
We have reached the square (of sorts) in front of the inn and at this precise moment a courier steps up to us and hands each of us a leaflet advertising a museum opened in a place called Dånstar. I don't know where it is.
In the north, says Lydia. On the coast. She annoyedly crumples the sheet and tosses it onto the ground. Then she looks at me with demanding impatience.
"That's not a nice thing to do," I admonish her, faking sternness.
Lydia stomps her foot. "Don't be like that!" But then she picks up the paper all the same.
Seeing Jenassa and Vera approach, I look at the clock outside the inn and exclaim: "My, it's past 3 already! We must get going immediately!"
Lydia casts me an I'll-make-you-pay-for-this look and I can't help grinning and she can't help smiling, and Vera notices it and looks at us inquisitively, and now Lydia notices them approaching, and I motion them to follow me and we head for the Moss Creek Camp.

Apart from those bandits Bal-Ran wants eliminated, I'm also planning on killing a dragon nearby and returning to Falkert for the night. We're running quite late, but I'm optimistic that the dragon will make himself visible even in darkness.

Which reminds me... I haven't yet shown you a map of this region. I'm sorry. I was going to, but then I forgot.

This is central Skyrim, the area around Lake Ilinalta:

When we arrive in the Moss Creek Camp, we find the bandits already dead. I get that helm for Bal-Ran. I find a moment to whisper Lydia to not worry, I'll tell her everything later. Of course she understands this is not the time, and of course she wasn't really cross at me to begin with. I'm not sure when it was we developed a special kind of bond, but by now it's clearly there.

There's another couple of tents with some dead bodies nearby, across the creek:

We loot the place quickly, but we won't hang about wondering what's happened here.

The dragon is supposed to live in a place further south called Ancient's Ascent. (I rather feel it ought to be Ancients' , but I shall keep to the official spelling.) It's on the other side of visibly unsurpassable mountains, so I need to find a way in, and I'm absolutely awful at navigation. So I use the Clairvoyance  spell for the first time. Strangely enough, it points in a direction almost opposite to Ancient's Ascent. Kaldred's husband Glod told me earlier today that Clairvoyance  can sometimes mislead you (as, by the way, can the compass, albeit very rarely), so it's by no means a substitute for the map and your brain. That said, my map indicates there's a small road across the mountains in the east from here, and that's where Clairvoyance  seems to be pointing at. That's why I trust the spell for the time being. However, at the point where I see a path leading up the mountain and Clairvoyance  still tells me to go in the direction directly opposite, I choose to trust my own common sense and follow the path.

We arrive at another fireplace with tents around it. I believe to faintly hear strange buzzing which somehow brings my thoughts to spriggans. I use the Sense of Smell  power and we look in every direction very carefully, but there is no one about. Just as we relax and begin to search the place for loot, three bandits appear and attack us. Thanks to Jenassa being forever alert, we notice them quickly and kill them without much trouble (with the emphasis on "much").

Proceeding further up the path, we soon arrive at a cave entrance. This location is called Bonechill Passage.

Inside, there are caves completely covered with ice. We see a wolf fighting a quickly-flying white (or maybe very pale blue) thing.

Lydia informs me it's a creature called icewraith and it's very deadly. It's also hard to hit, because it's, well, flying back and forth very quickly. Here, however, thanks to the two animals fighting each other, we are fortunate enough to be able to kill them both without taking any damage ourselves.

In the next cave, there's a large humanoid creature called snowtroll . It's very strong. My arrows cause but little damage to it. Fortunately, it needs quite a long time to see where I am, so with the help of my followers, I succeed in killing it before it can damage us.

Soon we are through the passage. As I had hoped, it has led us through the mountains. In front of us is a stone staircase going uphill. On top, there's a word wall with glowing characters on it, similar to the one we saw in Bleak Falls Barrow. No dragon, though. I shrug and think: whatever, I'll get the shout then, and maybe the dragon will deign to turn up in a while. When I'm halfway to the wall, the dragon comes flying from somewhere.

It's a good fight. This dragon gushes frost instead of fire, and unfortunately I have absolutely nothing to protect me against frost damage. I have to make do with generic health potions. Fortunately, there are four of us, so the dragon keeps getting distracted enough for each of us to heal herself whenever injured. I'm happy to tell you that this time I'm able to stay focused and not let my health get dangerously low. Well done, Laura! You're learning.

I get a soul from the dragon (it must look very impressive from the side, but I'm getting rather used to it), and then I step up to the wall and absorb the shout. It's called Animal Allegiance.

Jenassa has heard it told that "Animal Allegiance" means nearby animals will temporarily become my allies and attack any enemies of mine. That sounds interesting. Maybe I can even put it to good use.

But now it's half past 8 and completely dark. We need to get back to Falkert which is not far but very much lower than we are now. Fortunately, my khajiitish tendencies give me an excellent ability to descend even steep slopes. (Not to ascend, though.) Therefore, I need only half an hour to reach the familiar road down below.

Now I use a spell to teleport my followers to me. I know teleportation often leaves people nauseous for an hour or two, which is why I only do it as a last resort. Here it's inevitable, though. They wouldn't have a chance climbing down that mountain in darkness.

The spell works fine, but the girls do feel sick for some time. Fortunately, Falkert is not very far. Soon we're delighted to be back among lit lanterns, warm houses and unaggressive people.

I leave my followers resting at the inn while I proceed to the jarl's house. They're still up. I report first to the steward Nenya about the dragon, and then tell Jarl Siddgeir that I killed those bandits in the west he wanted to get rid of. Siddgeir appoints me thane of Falkreath and assigns to me a fascinating dark-brown-skinned woman Rayya Provlithsdotter as a housecarl.

She looks fierce with the traditional warpaint of her native region, but actually she's only 19 years old and a nice and modest girl.
I'm assured she's an excellent fighter all the same. Has to be, having been brought up in Hammerfell and made it to Skyrim.

In order to take her with me on my travels, I have to dismiss one of the existing followers. Bardslayer won't let me keep more than 3 at a time. He says anything more than that becomes an unmanageable crowd. He's probably right. Three followers have been getting in my way often enough.

It's Vera who has to go for the time being. Or for good, actually, because I don't think I'll ever prefer her to one of my existing followers. She's had her adventure and can now focus on growing up.

You may be wondering if I'm really exposing Vera to the considerable danger of having to travel back to Hviterun all alone. No, I'm not. There is more or less regular horse cart connection between all hold capitals of Skyrim. They transport trade goods as well as passengers and are accompanied by armed guards. While not 100% safe (as can be testified by an occasional upturned cart and a dead horse on the roadside), they are as protected as you can get in Skyrim. Both warring parties leave them alone, even when they're coming from enemy-held territory, and there's the strictest taboo on abusing them for military purposes. In fact, the soldiers always help defend them against bandits and wild animals, if they happen to be nearby. There will surely be one going to Hviterun within the next few days. That's how Vera can return home. Probably she won't even have to pay, because she'll help guard the caravan en route.

Well, it's getting on midnight. Time for bed.

We walk to the inn together, the five of us. A bard is singing in the taproom. He doesn't seem to be from here. The girls inform me that it's common for bards to travel from place to place. Vera hears it whispered that his name is Talsgar and he has studied in the Bards' College in Solitud. She makes it sound like it's a really huge deal. At least Lydia looks almost as excited as Vera. When the bard takes a break, they want me to come along to talk to him, but I am reluctant, so they go without me. I go to sleep soon, as do Jenassa and Rayya.



next awakening






return to the table of contents

Always Lost, Always Hopeful (5) Strange People in Strange Places

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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.
———————————————




previous day






4-201-08-20 23:20
Bleak Falls Temple, Bleak Falls Barrow, Falkreath, Skyrim


This is the sight that greets me when I open my eyes:

And it'll get worse, I'm sure. Let's go to it.

Exploring grim and dirty passages and up- and downward staircases, we kill a few more bandits and arrive in a hall that has a closed grating that can be opened by operating a lever. The catch is that there are three switches which have to be in the right positions, or the lever won't work.

Relax, that man is dead.

You'd normally have to try out all possible combinations, but Bardslayer knows the solution and gives it to me, as I have no interest in that kind of nonsense and he fully understands it.

We soon arrive in a hall that is all in cobwebs. There are spiders too, really big again. I'm beginning to suspect that that's the usual size of Skyrim spiders. We kill them.

There's a man trapped in cobwebs. He can't move at all. He has the Golden Claw we're looking for, but in order to get our hands on it, we'll have to cut those cobwebs first. I'm very suspicious of that man. Indeed, as soon as he's free, he runs away at incredible speed. We are very fortunate to be able to catch up with him and kill him. (Why didn't I just kill him right away, and then cut him loose?? One moment I'm a real planning fetishist, the next moment I'm utterly thoughtless.)

Apart from the claw, the man has a diary on him from which it emerges that the claw is a lot more than a nice adornment. It can be used to open a door somewhere further down the dungeon. So we proceed, killing some walking corpses (or draugrs as they're properly called), pass by a cascade of bloody water (yuck) and there is indeed another puzzle door. You need to turn three disks into correct positions (Bardslayer gives me the solution again) and then put a claw into the space in the middle and the door opens. The best part is I get the claw back after opening the door!

We are now in another very big hall.

At the far end, there's a platform with a coffin on it. As I'm sure it has a draugr inside, we sneak closer with utmost caution, but the corpse is either actually dead or not in the mood to get up.

We hear an ethereal rhythmic sound, something between shouting and music, and there's a wall with glowing characters in a script none of us can read. I step closer, something strange happens, the glow vanishes and I'm magically informed that I have learned something called a dragon shout. Unrelenting Force  – that's its name.

I also find and grab that Dragonstone thing Farengar wanted, and now the draugr in the coffin finally finds that all this commotion is too much and he has to do something about it. We help him return to the realm of death where he can hopefully rest in peace from now on.

There's an exit nearby. We end up on the edge of a cliff overlooking a long narrow lake. (Lake Ilinalta, says Heidi.) It's past 10 in the morning. I'm so happy I made the right decision to sleep when I had the chance.

We descend cautiously and wash ourselves in the lake. I reflect on those dim, grim, creepy burial halls we recently passed through.

I think the Nord way of handling their dead simply doesn't work. Laid out on open shelves, the corpses are (in the presence of some magic) tempted to open their eyes one more time and walk around a bit, as we kept witnessing in the Bleak Falls Barrow as well as in the Hviterun Hall of the Dead the other day. And who could blame them, what with living people walking in and out of the place as they please? What kind of a final rest is that? If you ask me, it's high time the Nords learn to bury their dead so that they'll stay dead.

But I'm keeping that thought to myself for the time being as the girls and I are silently getting back into our armors. We can see a village further west, but that can wait. Riverwood is in the east and that's where we're headed.

Soon we see a tent and a campfire on the opposite bank. (The lake is turning into a river here.) There's a man who seems not hostile, so I'd like to get acquainted with him, but we need to go a little farther where we can swim across without him seeing us naked. (Swimming with your armor on is possible most times, but very slow and cumbersome.)

Once on the other bank, we get dressed behind a large bush and walk back westwards to that tent. The place is called simply Fishing Camp and the man is a hunter. We exchange a few friendly words, find out he has nothing interesting to sell, and move on. Half an hour later, we're in Riverwood.

I'd like to try and improve our gear a bit at the smithy. Alvor is friendly enough to allow me to use his facilities. It feels a little weird at first, but I'm getting the hang of it little by little and Alvor gives me some tips as well.

Then I bring the claw we found to Lucan and Camilla, and it's indeed the one they had lost. I also sell our loot.

Now I go to the inn and ask the proprietor Orgnar if he happens to know a man named Mandyn Hlaalu. He points at a man with a beard and red eyes:

This is the second or third time I'm called "Dragonborn". What does it mean? If anything, I'm khajiitborn. That doesn't merely mean I find Khajiits utterly adorable. The actually remarkable thing about me (apart from the Khajiit Sense of Smell  power I've already mentioned) is that Bretons generally have an inborn talent of Magic Resistance , but for some reason I was born with the Khajiit Claws  power instead. You can't see it, my hands look like perfectly normal human hands, but I'm quite deadly in fistfight – or rather clawfight in my case.

Dragons, though... I can't recall having ever had anything to do with dragons before Helgen. Then again, I can't recall anything before Helgen. Go figure.

Anyway, Mr. Hlaalu wants my help in catching an extremely dangerous criminal who escaped from the province called Morrowind. I'm supposed to go to a village called Little Vivec which appears to be the same we saw earlier today. Why does Mr. Hlaalu think I can do what he can't is beyond me, but I wouldn't be so rude as to turn down his offer to pay me 1000 septims should I succeed. I just tease him a little by saying it's not enough, and to my surprise he promptly raises it to 2000. Fine. I'll see what I can do. He gives me a ring that protects against fire damage.

Before leaving, I ask him how he knew I was in Hviterun. He replies he didn't. The couriers have a magical way of tracking down addressees. Sometimes it takes more time, sometimes less.

Great. One bone less to chew on. Mr. Hlaalu and I wish each other good luck and go our separate ways.

I'm not sure at this moment if I want to make love to my boyfriend Hadvar or not. That's why I go to him – to give the decision off my hands. But he's not home. The door is locked and there's no one about. So I just return to my followers at the inn and we travel to Hviterun.

My friends the Khajiits have returned. Khayla is a trainer – she teaches sneaking for money.

At the door of The Drunken Huntsman, a man named Raven Dark eyes me weirdly, as he did the other day as well. That's why I ask him, flanked by my two followers, if there's possibly something he wants from me. He makes a clumsy attempt to flatter me, and then asks my help finding her missing daughter Bronwen. I would have to talk to certain men who live in the eastern suburb and often hang out in the Honningbrew Meadery, the place I saw when I was coming from Riverwood for the first time.

I don't like the idea very much, partly because Raven refers to Honningbrew Mead as "piss". I have tasted neither, so I can't comment on the truth value of that statement, but it's not good to use that kind of language in the presence of a woman, especially when you are in big trouble and are asking her to help you.

Apart from which, the word on the street is that Sabjorn, the owner of Honningbrew, is in conflict with a powerful mafia family who runs a meadery and is trying to drive all competing meaderies out of business. That's why I can't help liking Sabjorn, and that's why I don't like Raven. But I'll keep his request in mind. Maybe one day when I have nothing better to do and feel particularly compassionate, I'll pay a visit to the meadery and ask around. Might be interesting to find out just how horrible those horrible men are.

My mood is significantly improved by my encounter with that adorable beggar child Lucia near the temple of Kynareth. I gave her a little money the other day, and now she's so fond of me. Looks like people haven't been too kind to the poor thing.

Actually, I have a plan. I've been noticing a morose middle-aged woman who is always sitting and drinking alone in The Bannered Mare. I have heard that her name is Uthgerd and that she challenges anyone to a brawl who irritates her when she's drunk, which she always is. In a brawl, the law says, you will not be punished even if you kill your opponent. The point is, Uthgerd has a house in the city. For understandable reasons, she has no family. Meaning, if I could kill her legally, I could make her house my home, because no one else would claim it. If  I can kill her, mind you – of which I am not sure at all. But it's very tempting to get myself a place to sleep where I wouldn't have to pay 55 septims a night, and I'd be able to give Lucia a home.

I'm going to need some time to gather up my courage, but then I think I'll give it a try. Should the brawl really go sour, I believe to be able to run away and then, who knows, lure Uthgerd out of the city and call my followers to help and then kill her. Or maybe she'll get tired of the chase and give it up.

But right now there are more pressing matters. It's already evening and I have to rush to the palace and hope the important people are still working.

They are. I'm surprised to see Delphine, the Riverwood innkeeper's wife, with Farengar the court wizard, discussing dragons.

But I have no time to try and lure information out of her, because I'm grabbed and carried away (figuratively speaking) by the torrent of events. A moment after I've given Farengar the Dragonstone, Irileth arrives with the news about a dragon sighted near Hviterun, and we all rush to the jarl. He instructs Irileth to take her men and go and do everything in their power to defend the city. He asks me to go along with them, but not before he has bestowed upon me the privilege of buying real estate in the city. (Is he kidding? I can barely afford to sleep in inns at night. I think I'll stick to the Uthgerd's House plan. Naturally I won't tell the jarl that.)

I summon my girls and we follow Irileth to the city gate. The guards are... how should I put it... something between terrified and horrified, but Irileth keeps challenging their manhood until they raise their swords up to the sky and vow to kill the dragon, or ten dragons if necessary. Thus prepared, we all proceed to the Western Watchtower somewhat away from the city. We can see things burning, and it's not hard to guess the dragon is to blame. That ring from Mr. Hlaalu should come in handy here.

Apart from the fires and a little moonlight, it's completely dark outdoors by now.

The dragon doesn't keep us waiting for long. He's really big, incomparably larger than those horrible spiders.

After a while, he takes off again.

He's extremely hard to hit flying around. Thankfully, he stops every now and then to burst gigantic flames at the people on the ground.

Then he flies around some more. He's really strong, but we are many. Gradually, our arrows begin to wear him out:

Clearly the dragon has too many targets to fight, so he can never properly focus on anyone. Sitting on the ground, he offers a very big target and I'm sending arrows into him as quickly as I can.

Here you can see someone hitting the dragon with some kind of magic.

It's not fire magic, unfortunately. I wish somebody would set our target on fire, even a little bit. That huge bright flame on the left makes it practically impossible to see where exactly the dragon is.

* * *

It has taken considerable time, but finally the dragon is dead. My immediate impression is that dragons are not as awful as they're cracked up to be. I assure you, two draugrs running at you from different directions are a lot scarier. But I realize this was probably because there were so many of us. The dragon was overwhelmed by our sheer numbers. Or maybe he was young and inexperienced.

What comes next is truly weird. I feel an unexplainable urge to step very close to the dragon's corpse. After a few seconds, it begins to glow.

But it's not fire. It doesn't feel warm.

I stand there at a few paces' distance from the dragon's head, while all except Heidi (whom you can see behind me if you look closely) observe me from a safe distance with horror on their faces. Then I sense something rising up from the dragon (I now know his name is... was Mirmulnir) and get inside me.

When I return to the others, the city guards begin to talk to me in a revering way, using again that strange word "Dragonborn". As they see my complete and utter puzzlement, one of them explains that I have absorbed the dead dragon's soul, and that is an ability only the legendary hero called Drangonborn has, which proves I am Dragonborn and I can do dragon shouts like dragons can. Irileth is the only one who remains skeptical and keeps telling them not to get so excited over some silly legends. But the guards urge me to try if I can actually do a shout. So I test it on Irileth. She falls down onto her butt, slightly annoyed.

Don't ask me who the Greybeards are.

The guys are ecstatic. Irileth remains a good sport and asks me to go and tell the jarl that we have killed the dragon while she and the guards start working on putting out the fires.

My girls and I walk back to the city in high spirits, albeit dog-tired. I think absent-mindedly about Irileth and that brings my thoughts onto my follower Jenassa. They're both elves, and as far as I know, elves live much longer than we humans. When I mentioned the other day that Jenassa is older than me, I meant her psychological age, meaning she appears somewhat more mature than myself. Considering that, her physical age must certainly be a lot more than mine. A human of her age may well be an oldster. I haven't yet dared to ask her how old she is in case she might find it offending somehow. I really know very little about the elves.

Shortly before we reach the city gate, there's unusually strong thunder (no rain, though), after which a loud ethereal voice utters something that sounds like "Do-vah-kiin". I'm too sleepy to care. If it was something important, I'm sure someone will tell me soon enough.

Just inside the city gates, I see two Redguard men in a dispute with the guards. (Redguards are humans with dark brown skin.) Looks like they are denied permission to walk around in Hviterun and search for something. When they see me pass, they tell me they're looking for a Redguard woman.

Naturally, I'm curious to know why. They say it's none of my business. In case I should find out something, they'll be waiting in Roriksted, they say. I walk on. I've never heard of Roriksted, but I've seen at least three Redguard women in this city all right.

At the moment, though, I have something more urgent to take care of. I walk to The Bannered Mare, rent a room, hobble up the stairs and go to sleep. It's past 2 o'clock. Had a dead dragon become alive, one could argue that the jarl has to be informed without delay. But when a dragon who used to be alive is now dead – that is no reason to deprive the jarl of sleep. The same goes for me.



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