Forgotten Heros: The Rift

• Posted by Valierus January 30, 2017 - Filed in TSC: Skyrim - 1,189 views

     Valierus and Elwyn leave Whiterun behind for Riften. Their journey south is not without its risks however, barely an hour out from Whiterun they run astray of Valthiem Towers, an infamous den of banditry.

   

   

      "Nngh!" I grunt as the bandit chiefs hammer crashs into my shield reducing it to kindling. I respond with my own lightning fast blow aiming for his left side, which he had been favoring for the majority of our battle. The twang of a bow echos across the river, on the far side a Wood Elf falls towards the river, screaming the whole way down. My blade strikes true but bounces off the chiefs solid Steel Plated Nordic armour. He chuckles vilely and rams into me with his side knocking me firmly off balance. An arrow bounces fruitlessly off his armour as he repostions himself in preparation for finishing me off. I recover quickly and brace myself for his next attack, to my surprise the hammer head slams into one of the stone pillars at the center of the bridge, sending stone shards flying everywhere. Seizing the oppurtunity I thrust my sword through a chink in his armour. He coughs up blood on my shoulder and slumps over on my blade.

   

      "Vale!" Elwyn climbs down the side of the tower from her perch and joins me on the bridge. I wrench my blade fom my fallen foes corpse. "Are you alright?" She helps me pull the remnants of my shield off my arm.

   

      "Yeah, I'm fine. I never liked shields anyways." I say with a grin. She giggles in surprise, and moves towards the bandit chief. She lifts one of his hands and inspects his guantlets. 

   

      "They're too big," She complains moodily. She drops his arm and searchs him for other valubles. I cross the rest of the bridge and I search the tower for loot. At the very top of the tower, I find an unlocked iron chest. I lift the lid and search for anything of use. I find a few potions of healing, a garnet ring that gives of a subtle glow of power, and a dozen steel arrows. "I'll take those." Elwyn says gathering up the arrows and sliding them into one of her spare quivers. We return to the horses and I'm surprised to see the Chiefs Nordic armour sitting in a pile next to Elwyn's horse. "What? You need the armour."

   

      I help her load the armour into her saddlebags, and then swing myself into the saddle. We set off down the road making decent time, by late evening we reach a crossroads. One path heads towards the northeast, while the other heads southeast and out of Eastmarch. We follow the southern road, for a few miles. When we spot Fort Amol we leave the road and travel through the wildernes keeping the road insight.

   

      When Fort Amol fades from view we make camp alongside Darkwater a bit north of the bridge across. The weather had gotten steadily warmer as we traveled. I start a fire, and make a simple rabbit stew. While I cook Elwyn takes out the armor and cleans it, scrubbing off the blood and dirt. I finish preping the stew and quickly spoon some into two seperate bowls. I pass one to Elwyn and we make small talk as we eat.

   

     "What made you agree so readily to going to Riften?" She finally asks. What indeed? I was so opposed to it before..., I wonder. 

   

     "It just feels right." I finally reply. "Like someone was whispering in my ear, telling me we're needed there." I mob up the last of my stew with a slice of bread, once done I set my bowl aside. I lean forward and take Elwyn's empty bowl from her hands and set it next to my bowl. "We should rest now, it'll take a few hours to get to Riften."

   

     She nods, stretchs wearily and rises to her feet. She circles the camp casting protection spells, and spells of warding. I crawl into my bedroll and lay facing away from the fire. I fall asleep listening to the gentle sounds of nature around us.

   

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     I roll out of my bedroll the following, and reheat whats left of last nights stew. Once finished, I attempt to stir Elwyn from her slumber. At first my efforts are rewarded with little more than her grumbling, and rolling over to face away from me. Finally, I slam the flat side f my sword against the breastplatee of her looted armour producing a loud clang. She jumps upwards, startled be the loud noise her hand jumping almost instantanously to her bow. When she realizes I was the one who made the noise she scowls angrily.

   

     "Why did you wake me? I was having such an enjoyable dream." She complains.

   

     "We're leaving soon. I figured you'd want to break your fast before we set off." I reply coolly. "If I was wrong however then your more than welcome to go back to sleep." I divide whats left of the stew into two seperate bowls and pass one to Elwyn. She takes it gratefully, yet continues to grumble under her breath about the rudeness of waking people. I chuckle lightly and quickly bolt down my food. I finish before Elwyn has really made a dent in hers and I examine the armour she insisted on bringing.

   

     I myself have never liked heavier armours, I feel they slow you down needlessly and gives a smart opponent time to find a crack in the plating. I tend to lend more towards a set of well made light armour. Taking a closer look at the guantlets however I notice that they're designed to protect the back of the hand and the wrist, but still leave the fingers free to move easily. Perfect for.... taking up both guantlets, I adjust them to fit a smaller hand than the massive nord they were on and then set them aside to examine the rest of the equipment. I set the boots next to the guantlets, but quickly decide that the rest of the armour won't be of any use to us.

   

     "We can sell these." I tell Elwyn as she finishes, gesturing to the chestplate, leggings, and helm. "As for these you can make better use of them than I can." I take her hands, and slip the guantlets over her hands and fit them for her. Once satisfied with the fit I pick up the boots. "I'll give these to you after they've been washed.
  

   

     I walk away from the camp over to the river. I take some sand from the riverbank and use it to scrub the boots clean. As I work I think over the meeting with the jarl and the gifts he gave us. The Jarl himself met us at the stables the night before, and helped us saddle up. He also included spare daggers, food and 200 septims. I told him the money wasn't necessary, but he insisted. Although I must admit, I didn't try as hard as I could have. It was your right to claim a reward. A voice whispers, in my ear. I start in surprise and quickly survey my surroundings. A quick survey shows reveals nothing. I bend down to retrieve the boots from where they ended up. You must hurry back to her my champion. Before its too late. I jerk back up a boot in each hand and quickly look around again. As before I see nothing, however the words impart a sense of foreboding. I rush back to our campsite, partly expecting to see Elwyn. Right as I draw near to camp a blinding pain emantes from the back of my head and everything goes black.

   

   

       I want to go ahead and and apologizes to my readers about the delay between chapters. I found myself having to deal with a lot these past few weeks. Well heres to another chapter in the saga of the Forgotten Heroes.