Turdas, 25th of Evening Star, 4E 201
A cave wasn’t a very good place to sleep, especially if you have a long journey ahead of you. By the time I woke up it was noon or later, not good for me. I packed up as fast as I could and walked to the road. I followed the road for a long time, taking bends, straightaways, and going over rivers. At one point there was an intersection of three roads, one going straight and the other turning left. A sign stood in the corner between the roads. It pointed to a town called Ivarstead on the road left, and the other pointing to Riften, straight. I had heard of Riften in Cyrodiil, fishing city from what I remember, but I had never heard of Ivarstead. I decided on Riften.
The road to my destination was beautiful, trees everywhere, deer running around, birds chirping, the sound of water running, and wolf snarls. Wolf snarls. I turned around, seeing five wolves staring at me. I pulled out my axe and tried to scare them away but they just stood there. I did it one more time and they ran away. Felling pretty proud of myself I holstered my axe and turned around, to see a bear. I ran. I ran behind it and followed the road to a bridge that I got on. It led to a small camp of mercenaries sitting around a fire, with a large fort behind them. One man saw me and began saying something to me about his family, bandits, and a secret tunnel. I asked him what the pay was and he said he’d have something for me when the job was done. I didn’t agree with the terms and walked off.
Keeping to the road I stumbled upon a few orcs battling a giant, I rushed in and helped them kill it. They told me to speak with their chief in the stronghold. Doing so I got some free food and bed, but before that he wanted me to do something with him. He told me to talk with Atub, an orc woman in the stronghold. She said to bring her a deadra heart and troll fat, two things I couldn’t get alone. I agreed but only if they paid me. Atub said to talk to the chief again. Walking back to the orc I told him my terms and he said he would have money after the job was complete. Why does everyone in this province give you money after the job is done? I want money now!
I went to sleep thinking over the job.
Fredas, 26th of Evening Star, 4E 201
Waking up I realized that my birthday was in only three days! Being born in Evening Star wasn’t very good for my reputation as a child, everyone thought I was a thief because of my birth sign. I never stole anything until my years as a bandit, and when someone took the treasure I was hunting. But no one ever heard that, because I was never caught. Maybe I was meant to be a theif? Maybe.
I walked in to the dining room to see the orcs eating their breakfast, I sat and joined. After the first bite I spit it out on to the table. The orcs looked at me with disgust, then kicked me out until I came with the things they needed, stupid orcs. The only good thing they did for me was give me some horrible food and a bed. The bed wasn’t even comfortable! Anyway, I digress. I continued on the road to Riften, the city I saw from the mountain. Even from the stronghold I could see a large windmill turning in the wind.
The closer I got to Riften the larger the windmill became, something that’s pretty obvious would happen. The river next to the road opened into a large lake with a few small islands in the center, the largest of which had a medium-sized house on it. Multiple guards walked around it and the other islands that were bridged together. I could make out a small number of beehives, it was most likely a farm of sorts. On the other side of the lake were docks and fisheries, argonians were probably the workforce majority. The one thing that was strange was there were no boats in the docks. I’ll have to investigate that tomorrow.
Entering Riften was a hassle. Two guards stood by the gate, stopping me from walking in. hey asked for an entrance fee. I talked him out of it, but as I opened the gate I heard him saying something about the guild not liking the way it was going. I shrugged it off and took in my new surroundings. Two stone walls stood on either side of me, leading to the main square. The walls were part of the Jarl’s palace and an orphanage, with a road between them. I walked to the main square. People were everywhere, merchants, blacksmiths, regular citizens, beggars, and then me. A strange wanderer wearing fur armor and boots with a steel war-axe by my side, but nobody said anything about it.
The square consisted of a well in the center and small merchant stalls surrounding it. A small stone wall circled it with openings to allow people to walk in and out. A blacksmith shop was to the left, I walked to it and asked to see what they had for sell. The smith, Balimund, had a nice looking orcish war-axe that I wanted. My coin-pouch only had around fifty septims and Baramund wouldn’t sell me the weapon for that. I walked on to the inn, the Bee and the Barb.
Two Argonians worked there, one cleaning and the other one tending the counter. I walked to the counter to be welcomed by a harsh voice coming from a female lizard. A meal and some mead was ordered, as well as a room for the night. I finished my meal and asked if they had any books to read. One of the lizards said to look upstairs. The upstairs had a few books laying around, I took them to my room and read for the rest of the night.
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I've decided to do the first five chapters in journal form and then switch to third or first person POV. I like writing like that better and it allows more detail than writing it like Namlin is writing it.
