Aedric the Hunter - Chapter 1: Unbound

  • 17th of Last Seed 4E201

    I awoke to find myself in a wooden carriage being pulled along a bumpy road. Bleary-eyed, I went to stretch my arms and yawn – but my arms wouldn’t budge. What had happened the day before all rushed back to me as I realised my hands were tied. I looked around to see a Stormcloak man sitting opposite me, a man I didn’t know next to him and none other than Ulfric Stormcloak, the leader of the rebels, to my right! The man opposite me introduced himself. “I’m Ralof,” he said. “Ralof of Riverwood. Bad luck to be tied up with us out near Darkwater Crossing – who knows where we’re being taken?” Ulfric was gagged and the other man remained silent. I spoke up. “My name’s Aedric. And I’m not about to be killed by a bunch of Imperials!” I spotted my belongings sticking out of a chest on the carriage in front of us. The soldier driving our carriage replied “You’re going to die here, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” I soon realised what he meant. We passed under the outer wall of a village as one of the watchmen exclaimed “General Tullius Sir! The headsman is waiting!”
    A feeling of dread overwhelmed me. I was tied, and archers were everywhere – I’d missed my chance. The carriages stopped underneath one of the towers. “This is Helgen,” Ralof said. I’d never really left the Rift – I wasn’t too familiar with other parts of Skyrim. Sensing my confusion, Ralof told me it was south of Whiterun. We jumped out of the cart as an Imperial Captain approached us.

    We lined up before the Captain as we were called to the block. Each of the other men were called before me. This was unthinkable, to be executed by the Empire I once served without even a fair trial. I was called to the block as a loud roar echoed through the surrounding mountains. Whispers of “What was that?” filled Helgen. The Captain interrupted. “Silence! Continue.” I was pressed onto the cold stone of the block as a huge black Dragon landed on the tower to my left! I could hardly believe my eyes. But I sure believed it when it uttered a piercing roar that made the sky itself crack and start raining fire. Ralof seemed to have gotten his bindings off in the confusion and pulled me into a nearby tower. We rushed up the stairs just as the dragon smashed its scaly snout through the wall and sprouted a huge gout of flame into the tower. I barely managed to escape unscathed. Without hesitation I jumped through the new window into one of the buildings below where I met Hadvar and some of the villagers cowering behind a wall as the dragon attempted to burn them alive. “Still alive prisoner?” Hadvar said. “Stay close to me if you want to stay that way.” We weaved through the buildings and managed to make it to the keep. Ralof was there and rushed into one of the entrances while Hadvar and I dashed into the other. We were safe from the dragon. For now.

    “Was that really a dragon? I thought they died out centuries ago!” I said. Hadvar got straight to business. “We have to get out of here. Let me get those bindings off. Grab some gear and we can make our way through the keep – I know a way out of here.” I found a longsword and a set of Imperial leathers. Wearing those definitely brought me back to the days.  I motioned to Hadvar that I was ready and we delved deeper into the keep. We chanced upon some wounded Stormcloaks who had managed to recover their weapons. They were no match for Hadvar and I, and we dispatched them with ease. One of them had a greatsword and I snatched it up. That was a weapon I was more accustomed to. We entered the mess room just as the ceiling behind us caved in with a thundering crash – only to be met by two Stormcloaks raiding the Imperial stores. I rushed the one facing us with a fierce battle-cry, running him through before he had a chance to react. The other had drawn his weapon and I struck him with the pommel of the sword, knocking him to his knees, and finished him off with a deadly overhead swing. I stuffed all the food and potions into my pack – I had no idea how far it was to the closest village. Hadvar and I cleaved a path through the rest of the keep where we came upon a spider nest in a cave under the keep. Hadvar handed me a bow he recovered from one of the Stormcloaks, and we worked together to take out the arachnids before we were spotted. I’d faced plenty of them in my time in Skyrim – they move quite slowly. We continued through the caves until we saw sunlight streaming through a cleft in the cave wall – but a sleeping bear guarded the path. I drew my bow and aimed a careful shot at its heart and fired it awoke with a roar of pain but by the time it had seen a second arrow had already struck it dead. We rushed out of the cave, eager to be outside again.

    Just as we exited the cave Hadvar shouted “Wait!”
    I dropped to the ground just as the dragon that saved my life flew overhead. Hadvar said “There’s a village not far from here – Riverwood. My uncle Alvor is the blacksmith there, I’m sure he’ll help us out.”
    “How far is the journey?” I asked. I’d recovered a few days worth of provisions from Helgen in case there wasn’t any hunting to be had in these parts. “Only a couple of hours I think,” Hadvar replied. We started down the path toward Riverwood and were greeted by a beautiful vista – the rushing river framed by woodlands and an Nordic ruin on an overlooking mountain. Hadvar pointed it out to me as Bleak Falls Barrow. Hadvar asked me to tell him a bit about myself. “It’s a long story,” I said. “Even though I’m a Nord I’ve lived in Cyrodiil all my life. Until the Great War in 174. I was a lad of just 15 but eager to fight of these foul Aldmeri invaders. I’d been trained in use of a greatsword by my father and the marksmanship, stealth and use of light armor in my training as an Imperial scout and infiltrator. I was involved in several covert missions on the Hammerfell and Western Cyrodiilic fronts but as Lord Naarifin's army approached the Imperial city I deserted the army to get my family to safety. The Aldemeri army was too strong and too large to be defeated by the capital’s defenders. We fled over the mountains into the Rift region of Skyrim where we made a living in Darkwater Crossing. I did odd jobs around the settlement, did a bit of hunting, gathered food, that sort of thing. I learned to work leather from my kills and the metal from the mine as well as make potions to aid the people. My time in the army helped my stave off occasional attacks by bandits and wildlife. I longed for adventure but I couldn’t force myself to leave my old and frail parents. They passed away peacefully not a year ago and I’ve done a bit more work abroad. When I saw these Stormcloaks pass through the settlement I thought I’d go and say hello, just as they were set upon by the Imperials. And so here I am.”

    We reached the village of Riverwood by around 4:30 by my reckoning. Hadvar and I greeted Alvor by the forge and he invited us into his home. Hadvar told our story much to the amazement of Alvor, his wife Sigrid and daughter Dorthe. “Oh my,” said Sigrid, “you two have been through alot. Have something to eat, and you can stay here for a few nights.” I was glad for her hospitality – I hadn’t eaten all day and only adrenalin had kept me going. After we ate Alvor approached me. “There’s something you could do for us. For all of Riverwood. The Jarl of Whiterun needs to know what happened in Helgen so that he can send troops to defend Riverwood – we’re defenceless! We would be in your debt.”
    “Of course, Alvor.” I replied. “I’m sure I’ll be heading up that way within the next week.” I decided to go for an early nights sleep – almost being executed, attacked by a dragon and fighting your way through a keep of angry rebels can be quite draining!

    What should Aedric do next?
    1. Explore Riverwood and meet it's people
    2. Explore Riverwood’s surroundings
    3. Go straight to Whiterun

    Let me know in the comments!

    Next chapter is up, going with a mix of 1 and 2. You can read it here

     

Comments

14 Comments
  • Ponty
    Ponty   ·  May 1, 2012
    "Even though I’m a Nord I’ve lived in Cyrodiil all my life." Pay more attention! 
  • Frman
    Frman   ·  May 1, 2012
    What race is aedric. I was just wondering.
  • Peter Allen
    Peter Allen   ·  January 22, 2012
    1. Explore Riverwood and meet it's people
  • Ailís Haughton
    Ailís Haughton   ·  January 22, 2012
    Is that Aedric with the bow in the photo? He's handsooommme....can I marry him?
    Option 1, get some quests going and maybe even a follower out of it.
  • Ponty
    Ponty   ·  January 22, 2012
    @Ben The next chapter (and more or less then one after) have already been decided, read the second chapter and from the link at the end.
  • Ben Walsh
    Ben Walsh   ·  January 22, 2012
    I Vote Number 3 The Sooner we can Get Dragons into the mix the More interesting this may be IMO
  • Guy Corbett
    Guy Corbett   ·  January 21, 2012
    Yeah go south east cluck cluck cluck 
  • Mason
    Mason   ·  January 21, 2012
    Perhaps this one knows what lays in wait if he travels south-east....
    Perhaps this one is scared...
  • Garth
    Garth   ·  January 21, 2012
    Pick 2, Pick 2! :D
  • Ponty
    Ponty   ·  January 21, 2012
    Seems to be pretty close. I think I'll do a bit of both.
    And thanks Paul for putting it on the front page, I'm honored