Barannir

  • I finally made it to Skyrim. I expected the cold, harsh winds but not the Imperial ambush. They jumped me right on the border. I had no weapons and so couldn’t fight back. They put me on a wooden cart with three other Nords. There was a Stormcloak soldier, a horse thief and the Jarl of Windhelm.
    The cart slowly rolled into a small village apparently called Helgen. I could see the execution equipment and prepared myself for my death. One by one we were called towards the block. The horse thief named Lokir made a run for it. He got shot in the back. It was my turn. The male imperial looked at me, “Who are you?” I was staring at the execution at the time and turned quickly to reply “My name is Barannir and if I get out of here alive, none of you will survive.”, the imperial looked at me surprised but carried on none the less. “He’s not on the list.” he said to the female imperial next to him. “He goes any way!”.
    After that I was moved next to the block. A Stormcloak was executed and now it was my turn. Auri-El, I thought to myself, if you can hear me now please save me from death in this land of conflict and winter. I guess he heard me because when I laid down on the headsman’s block a dragon appeared. Yeah, a dragon saved me from execution. I hardly believed it myself. I was frozen in terror. Suddenly the sky turned yellow. Balls of fire and brimstone fell from the heavens torching the ground and buildings nearby. Then came the shout. “We have to move!”. I couldn’t tell who it was from but I think it was the Stormcloak soldier who was on the cart with me. Together we ran into a nearby tower. Inside was a soldier tending to another wounded man, the Jarl of Windhelm and myself. I walked up the stairs only to have the wall explode killing another soldier and the dragons head to appear. Flames erupted from his mouth. I cowered in fear of getting burnt. Finally the terrible beast moved away. I jumped out of the hole made into another building. I made it to the ground floor and saw the imperial who was in charge of the lists. He looked at me, “Still alive prisoner? Stick close to me if you want to stay that way!”. I didn’t like being told what to do but I could see I had no other choice. I followed him to a courtyard. There he met with the Stormcloak soldier I was with. They argued but I wasn’t listening because I was focused on the dragon. Finally they stopped arguing and I followed the imperial in to the keep.
    I learnt that his name is Hadvar. He pointed towards a chest. “There should be some armour and weapons in that chest there.” . I looked in it. There was an iron sword and some of that dreadful imperial armour. I took the sword but decided against the armour. We walked into another room where two Stormcloaks were idly chatting. Hadvar said that we could try and reason with them. No such luck. We swiftly killed them. Their armour suited me better and luckily they fit so I took it. We carried on into a storeroom. There we found some potions of health, magicka and stamina. Next was the executioner’s room. There we found some imperials and Stormcloaks fighting. Of course we helped the imperials. It was a quick fight. I found some picklocks and an iron dagger. Hadvar said I might find something useful in a prison cell with a dead mage in it. I found some gold and some other that would have helped someone focusing on magic, but I wasn’t skilled in such thing so I left them there. Hadvar led me into a tunnel and we carried on.

    I hated it. It was dark, damp and confined. Eventually it led us into a room full of Stormcloaks. Oh what fun we had. I killed two Stormcloaks who rushed at me. I then turned towards two Stormcloaks who were trying to shoot me with a bow. If I could reach them without dying I could get one of their bows! Even for a Bosmer I was known for my excellence with any type of bow. I narrowly dodged their arrows and ran as fast as I could. I reached them and cut down the first Stormcloak. I then turned towards the second. He dropped his bow and charged at me with an iron dagger. I easily dodged and killed the Stormcloak. I had a look at their bows. They were cheaply made, wooden but I think they will suffice.
    We continued on into an even darker, damper tunnel. It looked like a dead end but luckily it turned to the right. I was noticing an increase of cobwebs. We eventually made it to a cavern covered in cobwebs. Why does it always have to be spiders? I froze in terror only shaking out of it when Hadvar charged headfirst into the spiders. I fired off some arrows but I was too scared, so none of them met their target. Hadvar made a funny remark about what if they had been giant snakes, but that only scared me more. The next cavern housed a huge bear. I had many unfortunate tangles with bears back in Valenwood so I decided to sneak past. Finally we made it to the end. Thank the Gods I thought to myself.
    I carried on down the path with Hadvar. He told me of an Uncle of his who is a blacksmith in the nearby village of Riverwood. I thanked for helping me get out of there alive. I looked at my surroundings. There were trees and wildlife! I carried on down the road to these weird pillar thingy’s called standing stones. Apparently they help with my skills. I went for the Thief skills. I carried on down the road. I saw the entrance to a mine ran by bandits. One of them that was stationed at the entrance. He charged at me. I quickly killed him with a barrage of arrows. I took his fur armour and dropped the Stormcloak stuff. I entered the mine. Inside I found some traps which I easily went around. I made it into a larger cavern. There was a bridge and under the bridge were two bandits. The ironic thing was that they were talking about if someone could get into their hideout. I confirmed their suspicion with an arrow in each of their necks. I took out a few more bandits before reaching a prison looking area. There I found another bandit. I quickly loaded three arrows into her chest. In the next room I tried to kill one of the bandits from behind with an iron dagger but she spotted me alerting two other guards. I took out the archer first with my bow then killed the woman bandit. I was then rushed by a fearsome looking Orc with a two handed axe. He was much more powerful than any of the other bandits but I eventually got the better of him. I finally made it out of the mine back into the wilderness. I now have a fair amount of Septims in my pocket. I think I shall go and meet up with Hadvar’s blacksmith uncle now.
    On the way I had to kill two wolves. I had no other choice but I still took their furs, I might be able to make a nice piece of armour with it. In Riverwood I met another Bosmer named Feandal. I think we shall become quick friends. I met up with Hadvar’s uncle, his name was Alvor. They invited me in to their house. There Hadvar explained what happened to Alvor. I have been tasked with going to Whiterun to warn Jarl Balgruuf of the dragons. I helped Feandal with a girl and he offered to help me in my adventures. I gladly accepted. I shall now make my way to Whiterun.

Comments

2 Comments
  • Centaur42
    Centaur42   ·  August 12, 2013
    Thanks!
  • Laurie Bear
    Laurie Bear   ·  August 12, 2013
    Very nice, this should be a must read for all 1st time ES people like me this would have been real helpful, keep it up!