An Orc in Skyrim - A Skyrim AAR

[Darkan]

hmmm I wonder if people are getting bored with this? I haven't had a comment in four days. I hope not because its been a lot of fun

Ohh don´t worry, we´re here! Can´t wait to see what Grodash will do next. I see the title has changed...which means a world of possibilities for him...and for us. Personally, I would like Grodash to find his family again. Keep writing and we´ll keep reading! Cheers!

I must be the only person in the world who doesn't play Skyrim...

I´m not playing either! For me, this AAR is kinda like playing though.

[Chirurgeon]

Don't worry I have big things planned for Grodash. Skyrim is a big place with a world of possibilities :-) thanks for your support. I know people are looking as this thread's views are around 2000. I will be updating later today!

[Chirurgeon]

11th of Frostfall
Woke up and headed out to see the merchants. I talked with Ghorza who told me that she could help me make a weapon that was heavy but with a balanced weight. A weight that when you swung it that would carry through its target but not with as much starting effort as a mace. She said a warhammer would offer me a little more control and finesse without sacrificing the crushing force. I was intrigued and asked what it should be made of. She told me the best thing to make it out of would be Elven metal. It was the lightest and yet heavy hitting metal available. I agreed.


In the end I was able to combine malachite, iron, steel, and moonstone into a weapon that would hopefully provide some serious impact. I told her of my desire to check out reach water rock and she warned me that place was dangerous. I took her caution to me with heart.


I spent the rest of the day picking up supplies and managed to craft around 50 elven arrows with my leftover metal and wood that I had stored. I saw Calcemo again and he told me about the rumors of a dwarven forge that could make obsidian. This was a volcanic rock with enormous strength and yet it was light. I read his notes and told him that I would try to get there. He told me to take my time as it was unlikely to be found by anyone else.







I excitedly headed out in the afternoon for Reachwater rock and found the familiar series of doors. I unlocked both of them. Once inside there were three small pedestals to put the fragments. Curious I took out the fragment I had found already and put it on a pedestal. It was as if it was bonded to the pedestal and despite my prying I could not get it to come off! Well this was unfortunate. I quickly realized that I would need to find the other two pieces.




I suppose I might as well do this. I looked at my map and realized that these places were extremely far from here. The nearest was in some ruins on an island in a lake by Ivarstead. I would likely have to pass through Helgen to get there or go all the way around the mountains and take the road past Whiterun. I decided to take the most direct route.


I left the cave and headed to Old Hrolden and sorted through what I needed. The innkeeper told me I could leave what I wanted in the trunk and Pick it up when I came back. I gave her 100 gold to keep it safe. The equivalent of 10 nights room fees. With plenty of potions and arrows and my new warhammer I felt ready for this journey. I would be traveling all over this wild land in search of parts of a missing puzzle. I hoped when I had it all together it would be worth the trouble of collecting all the parts.

[Chirurgeon]

12th of Frostfall

I left while the stars were still bright and the sky black. It was brisk and I would need the day to get to my destination. Ivarstead was a long way and I would need all day to get there. I headed down the road out of the reach and came to the cut that would take me past the mill that is closest to Helgen. Before I could even get to the mill I was attacked by a bear and wolves. Then I found a small camp with an alchemist journal and other things including a valuable book on alchemy. I harvested some nirnroot and worked my down stream killing a few mudcrabs along the way. when i snuck down the stream at the bottom was a small pond and on the other side were two spriggins. I hit one with an arrow and they both seemed to know where I was hiding. soon they came up the hill and attacked me. These spriggans had a relentless healing ability that was truly testing my patience. I though I had killed one and turned around and as I battled her sister and endured her claws scratching me the first one bounced back and renewed her assault. I finally prevailed but not before being torn to shreds. I patched myself up and found the alchemist dead on some crude altar. I wondered what they had planned? Regardless I moved on and ran into a few more wolves but had a beautiful view of the lake.







The memories flooded back at this point. Over a month ago I had run down this road nearly barefoot and wearing ragged trousers. I had come so far. I found the turn to head back to Helgen and picked all kinds of botanical ingredients for potions along the way. I snuck past Helgen as I was unsure what was going on there. I began to climb up through the pass that would lead eventually to Ivarstead. It was snowing relentlessly and I stopped when I saw an overturned cart with Khajiit bodies scattered around. Bandits were no doubt at work and they were still around. I was spotted and four of them fell on me. They were motivated but not very skilled. They certainly did not expect Grodash and his tornadic dual maces.
One by one they fell until they joined their Khajiit victims. I hoped that they would be able to torture their attackers in the afterlife.





I moved on and eventually began to descend. It was late afternoon and would be dark in a few hours. I wanted to reach Ivarstead then and check into the inn their. I found a small shack that belonged to another alchemist and took a little while to concoct some more potions. It was getting late and I finally came within sight of Ivarstead. A quant village with a handful of capable guards I had finally reached safety. I went into the inn and rented a bed for the night. I sat and listened to music and warmed myself by the fire. The innkeeper told me the story of some haunted barrow right on the edge of town. Perhaps I would investigate that if I was able to retrieve the amulet part from the ruins on the island. In the mean time I enjoyed my time knowing I could relax and sleep soundly after a long days journey.

[Grimecraft]

real life has been fast paced so i get very little time to comment, only to read. It's something I'm ashamed off an affects all AAR's I read.

I'm still here and still loving it.

[Chirurgeon]

no worries mate Thank you for your continued support

[Chirurgeon]

13th of Frostfall
I awoke early in the morning anxious to retrieve the next part of the amulet. I made my way to the island in the early hours before dawn and descended into the dungeon. I had to drop down a hole in the floor into some water and creep my way along. I put down many Draugrs on the way. I was becoming quite good at killing them and they did not seem to fancy fire. Soon I reached a puzzle that I had to tinker with and then I was able to move on. Finally i came to an open room with three pillars. I crossed the floor which was covered in water and snuck up to the coffin. It erupted. The lid flew off and an ancient evil burst forth. However it did not see me and I was able to sink an arrow into its chest. Through some sort of magical deception it disappeared. However it reappeared as three. One on each pedestal in the center of the room. I now knew what was happening. Two were doppelgangers and one was the real mage. I shot each one and each time they would disappear. Soon I figured it out. The whole time I felt as if part of the wall behind me. They never saw me. I was becoming better at hiding. Eventually the doppelgangers were dead and I put down the real mage. I approached him and put another arrow in the body to make sure. Then I found his piece of the amulet along with a note.












I emerged from the tunnel after finding a large chest in an adjacent room and it was still quite light out. I took the opportunity to hunt some bears along the road outside of Ivarstead. There were several bears in the area and I knew why. There were beehives all over the place and the bears were after them. A small cave revealed several more bears. I know had several bear pelts and having successfully taken care of them I elected to return to the inn. My inventory was overflowing and I needed to lighten my load so to speak. Looking at my map I realized I could swing past whiterun and riverwood and perhaps trade with them there. I would head out in the morning. I had a long journey to the last spot on my map where I would find the third part of the amulet.

[Chirurgeon]

14th of Frostfall
I headed out in the morning and made way way to Whiterun. The town was supposedly closed to travelers due to the dragon attack. Well I would have to see if I could get in so that I could trade some supplies. I made it there fairly quickly as it was not far from Riverwood. I found my old friend Ri'saad selling his wares outside of town. I did some trading and told him where I was heading. He told me that the closest town to that ruin was Dawnstar. It was a small town right on the water and one of his friends was a trader.


I went up to the main gate of the city and I bribed a guard to let me in. Then I did some trading at the armor shop and got some potions. I left to the north and judging by the amount of snow I was going to be in for a cold day. Indeed I was. Not only was it cold but all sorts of creatures were stalking about including wolves and frostbite spiders.





Worse yet was a fort crawling with bandits. These bandits were better armed and stronger then the ones I had encountered before. I took it upon myself to rid the region of these bandits as they had set up on the main road and committ any sort of highway robbery they wished. It was a tough fight and when I came upon the bandit chief he was armored from head to toe in full plate steel. My arrows did not have the desired effect and i had to resort to paralyzing him while i smashed his body on the ground. It was dirty fighting but necessary nonetheless. As his armor dented from my maces I could hear the sickening crunch of bones and flesh. Blood oozed out of the spaces around the armor joints and I knew he was dead. I looted what I could and continued north.





Soon I made it to Dawnstar and found that the town was not that bad albeit quite cold and the wind was raw off the water. I found the inn and came upon a commotion. Looks like I had stumbled into some daedra business. One of the daedra lords had basically taken the town hostage and prevented them from getting restfull sleep. A priest wanted me to help and asked that I accompany him to a temple where supposedly we could deal with the problem. Once more Grodash has found himself entangled in another situation. I decided to get a good nights sleep first and then I would head out and help this town.

[Mr. Bean Laden]

Sorry Chirugeon, recently I haven't had time lately to read your awesomely crafted and played story, but I'll try and catch up this weekend, and of course post more comments!

Don't give up! I'm enjoying your AAR greatly!

[Chirurgeon]

15th of Frostfall.
Early in the morning I woke up and by dawn I was following the priest of Mara, Erandur, up to Nightcaller ruins to try to put an end to this curse. Outside the ruins we ran into a pair of snowy saber cats that put us to the test. I took their skins, eyes, and teeth and we moved on. I entered the ruins and Erandur told me that in their desperation the priests of Vaerina released a cloud called miasma which caused everyone inside the temple to fall asleep. He was correct and inside the ruins we ran into orcs seeking revenge on the priests for the very same thing that was besetting dawnstar. The seal of the ruins was broken with our entrance and the gas wore off. Delusional and crazy the orcs and the priests began to fight each other and us. Soon we found a barrier that could not be breached.





Erandur had an idea. It was crazy but he felt it was possible to find a potion that would send me into a dream realm and through it I could move myself to the other side of the barrier. There was no guarantee it would work and I could get trapped there. We finally located the library and found the description of the potion and after a nasty little battle found the potion itself. I lifted the potion and told Erandur "bottoms up". It was the strongest drink I ever had and I was no longer in the present. I was in the mind of a priest during the battle for the temple. Battle raged all around me and I had to release the Miasma. I ran through the hallways and alcoves. Priests and orcs were gripped in battle. I found the chain and pulled it.


Suddenly everyone started to fall asleep and that act snapped me out of my dream like state. I awoke on the other side of the barrier. I deactivated it and Erandur followed me amazed it worked. We found our way into the heart of the temple until we came upon his old friend who forbade him to proceed. We killed them too. Finally Erandur lowered the protective ward around the skull of Vaermina and a voice came to me. A voice that I could only assume was Vaermina. She told me I had been tricked into aiding Erandur so that he may claim the staff with the skull for himself. I had not a moment to spare. I struck him down when he lowered the shield and he perished at my hand. The staff was mine. I would safe keep it for as long as I was able. Erandur's broken body lay before me.






I felt strange as I left. I had killed my own kind and followed the wishes of a daedric lord to kill a man that had never hurt me. The only good thing was that the nightmares of the townspeople had stopped. I paused for a while to eat something and proceeded to the ruin that housed the last of the fragment of the amulet that had sent me to this distant place. I found it locked. I returned to Dawnstar defeated. However I was told that the mage's college in Winterhold held the key to the ruin. They alone could let me in. However I would have to be a member of the mage's college in order to gain entry. I would travel to Winterhold in the morning.

[Chirurgeon]

Sorry Chirugeon, recently I haven't had time lately to read your awesomely crafted and played story, but I'll try and catch up this weekend, and of course post more comments!

Don't give up! I'm enjoying your AAR greatly!

Thanks! I just wanted to make sure people hadn't forgotten about this as it takes alot of work to do!

[Chirurgeon]

17th of Frostfall
The last two days have been quite insightful and well I guess different. I had to get into the Mage's college and in order to do that I had to take the road south out of Dawnstar and head toward Windhelm. I first stopped to pick up some ingredients in order to make some more potions. The alchemist at the Mortar and Pestle asked me to find a ring for her which would help with her studies. In exchange she would help me with my skills. Seemed fair to me. On my way I came across a few nasty creatures and had to pass by a fort that was chock full of nasty magi. Off the side of the road near the city of Winterhold was a great statue to Azura. Someone had told me that the Statue was a gorgeous place. So I decided to go ahead and investigate. The priestess told me of an ancient Daedric artifact that could hold the captured souls of your quarry and their life force used to power your weapons. The soul gem was not destroyed in the process. This was truly incredible! I could really use this as my weapons went through soul gems quite rapidly. I left vowing to find out more.








I arrived in Winterhold and found quite the miserable place. There was an in appropriately named the frozen hearth and I eagerly went inside. Here I found a man named Nelacur, a mage of great power, living a rather bland life. He had hung up his hat a while ago and opted to live a quiet life. I asked him about this Azura's Star and at first he was reluctant to say anything about it. After some monetary convincing he told me the story of a mage who had the star and wished to preserve his own life in it as if to save his soul inside the gem. Nelacur wasnt sure if it worked but getting to the point was deadly. Several of this mage's students perished as a result of his work and he was banished from the mage's college. Nelacur did tell me of a possible location and I thanked him.






I decided to head to the college itself and arriving there, after passing a small test, was shown around and given my own quarters. I was told to see Tolfried who would be my mentor for the first part of my stay. Of course I really had no desire to stay here. Once I gained access to the ruins and found the amulet I was going to return to Markarth. It was late by the time I completed my first magic class and rested. IN the morning the class was going to Saarthral to explore the ruin. Tolfried did not know my true intentions and I wanted everyone there to believe that I was genuinely interested in the college. I curled up in my bed and wrote in this journal and was able to get some much needed rest.

[Chirurgeon]

When morning came I made my way to the ruin which was now open and the students and Tolfried were present. I found a room with a mysterius amulet and became imprisoned. using my basic skill of flames, and having donned the amulet I shot a jet of fire at the door in front of me. It shattered and I entered. Inside of a further chamber an apparition came to me and told me that they would be watching my progress as a mage. Well I hated to dissapoint them. I pressed on and soon we were deep in the bowels of an ancient crypt. Replete with all the dungeon nastys especially draugr. Lots of draugr. Tolfried had come with me and was useful in burning the draugrs and my bow and maces quickly put down most opponents.





Still I pressed on and at last wiped out a draugr deathlord and finally came to a room that was quite bizarre. In the center was a giant spinning orb with strange glyphs on it. Now I was interested in what this was. At last I found the last of the holders of the amulet - Jyrik Gauldersun. At first my attacks had no effect and the sphere seemed to be somehow healing him. Tolfried was able to block this healing and I took the initiative and sunk several arrows into his ancient body. At last he lay broken and upon searching his body found the last piece of the amulet. Alas it was done. Now to head back to reachwater rock to forge it with the other pieces. The orb upon closer inspection was impressive.






I returned to tell the arch-mage about the discovery and he sent me to talk to the librarian about a book. Well he didnt have it but told of a mage who left the college and relocated to some keep some distance away. Urog the librarian wanted me to find that book and do a few other things. I rolled it over in my head and agreed that I would do these things for them. After that they were on their own. I felt quite uncomfortable around all these mages. It was a world I didn't understand and had no desire to. The only thing I wanted to be able to use were enchantments. Perhaps I could utilize the college for that. And with regard to enchanting I took some time to add a rather strong enchantment to my warhammer. Maybe the College had some sort of Alchemy that could help. However I had survived this long without magic and figured I would be ok with out it. Give me a bow and some maces and that was all I needed. A man by the name of Ancano from the Aldmeri Dominion wanted to know what I was up to and told me that he would be keeping an eye on me.






I rested that night in the frozen hearth and slept pretty peacefully until early in the morning when the fire went out and it got extremely cold.

[Chirurgeon]

19th of Frostfall
Already cold and with everyone else tucked in their beds I headed out. I put together a heavy breakfast as I had a long trek ahead of me. It was a four day journey to Markarth from here but I intended to keep a blistering pace and make it in two. I wanted to swing by Windhelm and pick up some supplies. I also needed to offload some loot but there were some things I wanted to keep for myself. The journey was periless. I was attacked by a bear on the way there along with an orc and a thief. I felt bad for someone that traveled these roads that could not defend themselves. This whole province was just so dangerous.



Arriving within sight of the fortress at Windhelm I took in the view of the cold structure and was glad I had chosen to spend most of my time in the southern part of the province. I talked to the smith and a few vendors. The hatred of the elves here in this city was obvious as they were relegated to a seperate living area. A sort of slum called the Gray Quarter. As an outsider myself I could sympathize with them. I didnt want to spend too long here as it was not a very welcoming environment. In the apothecary I met a dying alchemist whose last wish was to get some white phial from a nearby cave. He himself was too sick to get it. I told him I would do it.





By the afternoon I had traded some things and was ready to head to whiterun. If I could make it there the journey to Markarth would not be so bad. But again it was filled with peril. Wolves and an ice wraith tried to cut my life short. The ice wraiths were particulary terryfieng because they could form a sort of cage of ice spikes around your feet. Trying to move while in this trapped exacted a heavy toll in blood and pain. I had to dance nimbly around and pick my attacks carefully. These ice wraiths were very tough opponents.





I found myself low on potions and the city gates of Whiterun were a welcome sight. I arrived just before sunset and I hit a few of the shops to lighten my load. Once the shops closed I headed up to dragons keep to talk to the court wizard and buy some soulstones. I made some more potions and crafted some magic rings. With all the pelts I had I went to a forge near the city entrance and worked on tanning some hides, melting some ingots and crafting some armor. Exhausted I went up to the bannered mare and had a stout drink before heading off to bed.

[Grimecraft]

good updates.

I just started a new game as a Kajit trader. So far so good, the extra jump is a nice bonus. The casual racism not so much...

[Grimecraft]

good updates.

I just started a new game as a Kajit trader. So far so good, the extra jump is a nice bonus. The casual racism not so much...

[Chirurgeon]

yea I know what you mean. My Orc is not very welcomed in many places. If you are not a nord no one likes you it seems.

[Chirurgeon]

good updates.

I just started a new game as a Kajit trader. So far so good, the extra jump is a nice bonus. The casual racism not so much...

So how is playing the game as a trader? Is that a viable way to play the game?

[Chirurgeon]

21st of Frostfall
I woke up early and decided to head out to the plains of Whiterun to do some hunting. First I crafted some more Elven arrows out of moonstone and made some more potions. Then I was off. I cut up through the hills near Old Hrolden and came upon Serpent Bluff Redoubt. Here the forsworn had taken up refuge and I decided to do something about it. I carefully took out the two sentries with my arrows and then closed in close with my maces. I surprised a few of them and they didn't have time to draw their own weapons. Finally killed a briarheart and then entered the ruins of this fort. It was a small area but there was a Hagraven there and she put up quite the fight. I got her into a corner where I was able to pummel her relentlessly. Soon she was dead and I found an adjacent room with some worthwhile items. I left and continued onto Rorikstead.








Rorikstead was a quaint village with a few guards from Whiterun and some nice farmland. I took some wheat and moved on. A desperate hunter ran up to me proclaiming that he had been attacked by a vampire. I asked him where this occurred and he marked it on my map. I then gave him one of my cure disease potions. I was hesitant to look into this but if I didn't, more innocent people would be caught up in this. I felt the need to act. I snuck in and found a vampire right inside. I sunk an arrow into her flesh and suddenly the room was alive with skeletons. They were easy to dispatch but the vampire herself was quite tough. However she was not tougher than my maces and I put her down eventually. I then snuck into another room and found the vampire master. He was even tougher but I put him into a corner and pummeled him relentlessly. His broken and shattered body succumbed to my blows and finally I had beaten the life force from him. I then took what I could from their treasure and continued on.








The game was not very plentiful and I suspect that some of the herds had moved on. I did get two kills of elk but I got more with wolves and sabercats. I decided to head back to Old Hrolden and spend the night there. My journey from the plains of Whiterun to Old Hrolden was surprisingly uneventful.

[Chirurgeon]

22nd of Frostfall

Guards in Markarth had told me of a Forsworn nest at Karthspire. Karthspire was near Markarth and quiet close to Old Hrolden. I woke up in the morning and decided to deal with it. I was able to approach it from above and using my stealth and extreme focus on following a target with my bow I was able to eliminate about five of them before I had to drop down and pull out my mace and hammer. I laid into them one by one until i found a hagraven. Here I hid behind a rock and when she appeared I whirled into her with my Elven weapons. With nothing left except a bloodied mass of shattered limbs I took what I could and found a giant they had killed. I took some alchemical ingredients and continued to the city of Markarth.







I had spent the bulk of the day skulking around karthspire putting down forsworn. It was afternoon by the time I arrived in the city. Ghorza helped me craft some light steel boots and told me that it would offer more protection for the same weight. Sounded good to me. I headed over to Lisbet's store and purchased and sold a variety of things including purchasing a grand soul gem. It cost me every gold I had but I wanted to enchant my boots to make them stronger. I headed over to Understone Keep and used the enchanter to upgrade my boots further so that my stamina would be stronger. As I got the ingredients I planned on upgrading the rest of my armor as well. However right now I was having a problem securing corundum. In the morning I was going to head back towards dragonbridge and solitude. One of the merchants that had died from the falmer attack a while back had a daughter that said I could have the house they left behind. It was apparently right near dragon reach. I would have to investigate this and see what it is about. Perhaps I could use it. I also had some unfinished business in Wolf Skull cave outside of Dragonbridge as well. For now I aim to have a nice drink at the silver blood inn and get a good nights sleep.