Recent Entries

• Deserter - Chapter Eight: Oblivion

  by FishDout May 15, 2016
  He was falling. In reality, it was only a short distance to the floor; in his mind, however, the plummet was endless and exquisite. Perhaps it was symbolic. The inevitable fall after pride.  For the briefest of moments, he’d been wrapped up in the glory of it all. Whiterun’s rebellion. The fall of ...
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• Short Story: The Alchemist

  by FishDout January 6, 2016
  Mr. Flamel had always thought of nightfall in Skyrim as one of Kyne's most exorbitant - and most stunning - displays. Luckily for him, the grand spectacle insisted on repeating itself at the end of each day; first with its sun setting in a vivid sea of crimsons and oranges, then with the subtle tr...
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• Short Story: Faendal & the Formidable Lute

  by FishDout December 31, 2015
  In a sun-lit clearing in the forests tucked behind the town of Riverwood, a small doe was tentatively inching away from the tangle of trees and plants that made up its home. It was entranced by the harmonious playing of a lute, whose strings echoed off of bark and stone, filling the clearing with a...
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• Deserter - Chapter Seven: Calling

  by FishDout November 16, 2015
  'The only time a soldier can be truly at ease, Caius, is on his deathbed.' Weary eyes observed the inert form of a hold guard with solemn contemplation. 'Broken', a healer had said of the body. 'Beyond restoration.' And indeed, the chest shuddered silently with every breath; singed flesh quivered s...
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• Deserter - Chapter Six: Loss

  by FishDout October 21, 2015
  It was during an ungodly hour that Jarl Balgruuf the Greater swept through Whiterun’s Wind District, a bitter cold numbing him to the core. Pausing at the bottom of the steps that lead to Dragonsreach, the Jarl loosened his grip on a courier’s letter that had been savagely torn apart and crushed in...
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• Short Story: An Account of Necromancy

  by FishDout September 29, 2015
  Necromancy, being the tabooed practice that it is, is widely discouraged in most Tamrielan provinces. Though nobody is exactly sure why this particular veto came about, the general accepted reason for the prohibition of Necromancy is a rather simple one: dead things smell bad. Trivial? Perhaps to s...
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• Short Story: Of Cows & Mer

  by FishDout August 25, 2015
  Skyrim's Thalmor Agency seemed to be well renowned for being all-around unpleasant, and agent Sanyon was beginning to appreciate why. He was trudging wearily through a grassy plain, leaving a trail of watery footprints in the mud in his wake. It began to rain again, and Sanyon wondered for the hundr...

• Deserter - Chapter Five: Ill Fate

  by FishDout July 13, 2015
  Distractions get you killed. A majority of the Whiterun Guard force was posted at the mouth of a mountain pass, waiting on the verge of war for orders. Castle Dour had sent a small unit of imperial soldiers to aid them in their attack, and now numerous patches of brown leather dotted their ranks, p...
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• Short Story: Orange Eyes & Flaming Beards

  by FishDout July 7, 2015
  Caution: Mild sexual themes and violence. Falk Firebeard stood dutifully at his place beside Jarl Elisif's throne, struggling to look concerned as one of the countless commoners whose complaints he endured each day explained why her problems were more significant than those of her peers. It was the...
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• Deserter - Chapter Four: Valour

  by FishDout July 2, 2015
  "... With our blood and our steel, we'll take back our home ..."  A bard in the Bannered Mare was singing Imperial propaganda when the Hold Guard entered. The stringing of an accompanying lute carried its sound throughout the tavern, ensuring that, no matter where he went to seek peace, the Hold Gu...
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• Deserter - Chapter Three: Impressions

  by FishDout June 26, 2015
  'To unite Skyrim against its true enemies. To protect our citizens, that they may live in peace. To honour my brothers-and-sisters-in-arms and the Empire; and to gladly embrace death in the name of the greater good.'  The Hold Guard observed his recruit listlessly. She was a wood-elf; brown-skinned...
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• Deserter - Chapter Two: Command

  by FishDout June 21, 2015
  'Duty? Since when has our duty to Skyrim involved sending children to their graves?' Shadows danced on the walls of Dragonsreach's main hall. Flames in its firepit flickered with life, throwing light in haphazard patterns throughout the Keep; and the blaze emitted a sultry heat that helped stave of...
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• Deserter - Chapter One: Aftermath

  by FishDout June 18, 2015
  (Note: Please read the Prologue before this chapter) 'Is this all the Guard is good for? Committing unspeakable atrocities and calling them acts of justice?' The dawn brought with it the grisly aftermath of the Battle for Whiterun. Blinding rays of sunlight streaked through the clouds, illuminating...
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• Deserter - Prologue

  by FishDout June 17, 2015
  'This must be it, then. The calm before the storm.'  The day's last light painted Whiterun hold's grassy plains vivid crimson shades. Towering over surrounding structures, Dragonsreach cast an ominous, jagged shadow over the southern prairie that engulfed whole buildings, and outlined a path to the...
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