Always Lost, Always Hopeful (96) Movement Keeps You Warm in Winter

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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






4-201-11-21 06:21
Proud Nord Tavern, Amol City, Winterhold, Skyrim

We check out the local mine and then I spend the next hours crafting. This town's smithy hasn't got a grindstone, which is rather disappointing. But everything else is top-class and while the blacksmith Holdin is a bit grumpy, the thane's wizard Oyla is very friendly, as are the town guards who stop occasionally and try to chat me up.

I've been told Holdin dislikes travelers because he's fed up with being asked how he got the nickname Holdin the Hammer. Therefore I'll be most careful not to bring it up.

While working with my hands, I have plenty of time to think. I have something to do in northwestern Skyrim (namely find another rare book for the Winterhold librarian Urag) as well as (of course) in Riverwood that lies to the southwest from here. I decide, however, to go to Mzulft first, in order to get that Staff of Magnus  for the College quest. Then we can take care of several smaller matters in Bitchen further south, and proceed to Riverwood from there.

In spite of the harsh climate, Amol City is really nice.
Good hospitable people too, in their unsophisticated way.

I chat with a few more locals here and there. At about 2 in the afternoon, we head for Windhelm. I've changed my mind about taking the road southwest that leads to Windhelm by a detour around the mountains. We'll go southeast and then south between the mountains and the estuary. There was obviously a gate to Windhelm near the refugee camp, so we won't have to wade through the water again.

Thus we run along the road to the south for, like, ten minutes, and then turn off downhill into the wilderness. We soon notice three men fighting a big snowbear. They seem to be Companions from Hviterun. We cheer them from a safe distance, driving them on with excited shouts and shreaks.

The men eventually kill the bear without losses. We run to them and congratulate them on a good fight. Of course, we act as if we didn't help them because we self-evidently trusted them not to need any help. The guys react like everything's normal and in fact seem pleased to see us.

They head north while we proceed towards Windhelm. At the nearby Shrine of Arkay, we end up in real trouble, attacked by icewraiths, those almost invisible flying creatures whose bite is very, very painful.

Good luck trying to hit that! One can barely see the damn thing. (It's the bright glow in the middle, with a pale green tail.)
FYI, whenever I'm hit, the magical camera indicates it with slight blurriness of the picture and red dots here and there. Two this time.
You can also observe my red health bar emptying below. The blue bar includes my available magical energy a.k.a. magicka.

First there are like 2 or 3, but with every few minutes more appear. I don't know how many we kill by the end. Must have been at least ten. And the men are way out of sight by now. It's horrible. We all take serious damage. I don't think I could have survived this alone.

Upon reaching the refugee camp northeast of Windhelm,

we indeed find a gate (or more like a door) to the city. It leads to the end of the Gray Quarter that is closer to the palace. When you exit the palace yard (past that firebowl where the beggar Silda often stands and warms herself, and through under the arches), turn left and you'll see a street going downhill into the Gray Quarter. The northern city gate is the first door to your left.

That's the one. Those are not permanent guards, just Lydia and Jenassa. They look great here, don't you think?
Although I should have made them switch places, because Lydia is taller.

I tell my followers they can go and have fun. I don't know yet if we'll travel on later today or spend the night in the city. It depends on how much time it'll take me in the palace.

But first I go shopping. It's always a pleasure to be in Windhelm and I wish the day were longer. As it happens, I've just about enough time to comfortably visit all the shops. Here and there, I'm stopped and greeted amically and patted on the back and such. People remember well who caught that serial killer.

Yeah. Many men do.

By 7 in the evening I've sold everything the Windhelm traders can afford to buy and go to the inn to have a bath. I must be flawless for my magnificent man.

Yrsarald is somewhat preoccupied with the war – you know, the usual – but he raises no objections when I suggest it's time to call it a day. When we're lying naked in the bed, I turn my back on him, leaving it to him to choose the hole. I am a bit afraid, but I'm curious to see what he's going to do and I have to admit I also enjoy the thrill. I smile happily when I feel him where I'm used to.
[series of 2 pictures you can click through; click on the first picture to make it big, then click again to see the next picture etc.; press  Esc to return to the text]

It doesn't last very long, but I'm profoundly delighted to be near my dearest dear and to hug and caress his mighty body afterwards. When it has grown very dark and silent outside our room, Yrsarald decides to go to sleep and I return to my house to do the same. I'm amused to find that all my followers are spending the night somewhere else.



next awakening






return to the table of contents

General rehearsal game, hours 16..18

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


I went to the inn. There was a big dude named Stenvar who would become my follower for 500 septims. I hired him. Then I remembered that the people had been talking about a series on murders in the city. I knew from my magical visions that it had something to do with a man named Calixto. I went to check out his house. It was locked. I looked around very carefully and didn't see anyone, so I risked picking the lock.

In spite of having no lockpicking perks (and, come to think of it, in spite of having picked very few locks so far), even Expert level locks are not very difficult. It's really weird. I'm supposed to have a mod titled "Harder Locks", but in reality only Master level locks are difficult to pick.

I also noticed that my Lockpicking skill increased after I had failed to pick a lock and went away. That is definitely not right. Got to see if there's a fix for that somewhere.

Anyway, there was no one in the house, and there was a chest that required a key. So no shortcut there. A pity. I stole everything from the house, and then from Niranye's house nearby. She's such a haughty bitch. Lucky I had Stenvar to carry stuff for me. Then I went to the marketplace to look for that crooked elf, hoping I could sell some of the hot stuff to him, but he wasn't there.

I had planned on returning to Dånstar, but it was already late afternoon, so I made love to Stenvar, walked around in the city and went to sleep. Stenvar's face could be prettier, but his penis is perfect, so I'm really glad to have him with me.

When inside settlements, I walk without a helmet, because I obviously look better without it. Recently I started wearing
circlets, because they're really pretty. As to that necklace, though, that's actually a useful magical thing. I have this mod 
Summermyst - Enchantments of Skyrim which creates a great variety of enchanted items. It's so awesome.
Vanilla enchantments are simplistic and boring. That mod makes finding enchanted items a great fun.
However, I really wish I'd find a better armor soon, because that fried chicken on my left shoulder is annoying me.
I wonder what purpose does its creator think it serves.

In the morning, we headed for Dånstar. On the bridge between Windhelm and Anga's Mill, we killed an arrogant man who insulted me for no reason. I mean, I didn't really mind his attitude, I was just curious to find out if Stenvar and I were strong enough to kill him. We were.

Then we had a couple of fights with unbelievably tough wolves. And finally I managed to take a wrong turn, then cut through the wilderness and get killed by those flying icy things. Maybe I was getting too cocky after having won a few skirmishes, maybe I felt I couldn't leave Stenvar behind. At any rate, it was a disaster. Those beasts were so fast and I failed to think fast enough. Come to think of it, I could have had a good chance simply running away and summoning Stenvar with Leader's Teleportation .

When the last save reloaded, I kept strictly to the road, except in one place where we had to evade an unknown castle.

By the way, what are these huge stones with magical-looking inscriptions? Why have I never seen those things in my previous games?
Or I simply haven't been paying attention? If so, thumbs up, Skyrim, for letting me discover new things after 1000 hours, give or take.

Nearing Dånstar, I was lucky to meet a Khajiit merchant. I was able to sell everything I had stolen, as well as get some training. In Dånstar I gave Frida that ring and got a little free Alchemy training as reward.

I intend to explore the area west of Morthal. It should contain locations added by a mod that I just found out might be unacceptably loony. So I want to check it out. And maybe make some money at the brothel while I'm in the area.



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