An Orc in Skyrim - A Skyrim AAR

[Chirurgeon]

Just noticed that the 1.5 patch went live. I hope this doesn't break some of the mods I have

[Chirurgeon]

29th of Frostfall
These late nights are wearing me out. I woke up and decided to stay in Windhelm and do some trading. I went down to the "White Phial" store and spoke to Numerion who chastised me and insulted my intelligence and gave me five septims for retrieving the white phial. I was furious. I wound up talking to Quintus who gave me 500. That was much better. I then bought many different ingredients but realized I was overflowing with various ingredients. I made a ton of potions in the shop and then sold them back. I had bartered all the money the shopkeeper had to barter with.


I left and found the Aretino boy in his house and he seemed to think I was in the dark brotherhood somehow. Well this would be interesting indeed. I played the part. In my mind I thought that I could somehow get cozy with the people that were trying to kill me. Perhaps I could use this as an opportunity. I would have to think on this more. This boy wanted me to kill the head mistress of an orphanage in Riften. I wasn't exactly comfortable with this but I would have to see. Ultimately I would have to do something to get the dark brotherhood off my back.

I went into the main palace and sought out the wizard that lived upstairs. I decided to work on some enchanting and managed to put some minor enchantments on about a dozen rings and other trinkets I had come across. In addition to visiting The White Phial I had also taken time to create some silver rings from all that silver I had found. It proved to be fruitful as my enchantments were getting better. There was also a member of the mages college in Winterhold that could help me as well.


Having felt like I accomplished something I went by Candlehearth Hall to relax and enjoy my evening. I ate heartily and drank well. By the time night had fallen I was ready for bed. In the morning I would travel south and try to get back the rest of the documents for the mages at the mages college. Then I would head to Winterhold and finish the favors I had done for these Magi.

[Chirurgeon]

30th of Frostfall
I woke up a few hours before dawn feeling rested and ready to go. I decided to head down and find these documents the mages needed. Unfortunately it was locked up in a chest in a nearby giant's camp. I first had to deal with a bear on the way. And then a saber cat and then another bear. These beasts were powerful and took every ounce of concentration to keep from being killed. What a rough morning. But i had pelts and more importantly the papers that the mean librarian needed up at the Mages College.






I never made it as after my last bear encounter I felt terrible. I had the symptoms of bone break fever and worse I had no cure disease potions and Nurelion was out as well back in Windhelm. I took a chance and headed up to Narzulbur, an orc stronghold. Apparently they had no idea that I had been banished from Dushnikh Yal and as a result were quite welcoming. The wise woman had several cure disease potions and I bought them happily. I left and headed north to return to Winterhold. They invited me to come back anytime I wished. Perhaps I would take them up on it but I was worried eventually they would find out that Chief Burguk at Dushnikh Yal had banished me and they might do the same. I realized I was happy outside the stronghold and so far life had been pretty good.




I worked fast to get there but again I had more encounters with wild beasts. At one point I had to fight two bears one right after another. This one bear was a snowy version of the cave bear and put a serious hurting on me. I was battered and bleeding after the fight and used several potions to get myself back to normal. I had some seriously hard fights in my time but this one was one of the hardest. For a moment I thought Grodash was going to be bear food.




But finally I arrived in Winterhold and for once it wasnt pouring snow. I made it to the college and the librarian was surprised I survived to give him the papers and his missing books. He said it would take him a day to translate the papers but gave me a bunch of books that increased my knowledge of the various schools of magic.



I went into the chamber of elements and was shocked at what I saw. These damn magi had gotten that huge sphere from the ruins of Saarthraal and placed it right on the mana fountain in the middle of the room. I could scarcely believe it. I for one was fearful of what might happen as no one really seemed to know what this sphere was. I certainly think dragging that thing here was a mistake but then again perhaps I am over reacting and its going to be fine.


I settled into my bed and decided to do some reading and poured through the books that Urog had given me as my reward. I wasnt particularly interested in the use of this magic but it was interesting to read the books. There were some very good stories in the books to be had. I would check with him in the morning and see what he made of the lost papers of Shalidor's Insights I had given him.

[Chirurgeon]

31st of Frostfall

I awoke in the morning and I went and delivered Tolfdir's alembic back to him. He wanted to talk about other things as well. He was trying to describe this sphere and how it seemed a pure source of magica as anything he had seen. We were interrupted by the rude elf Ancano who apparently was so full of himself he didn't have to wait for people to stop talking before he jumped in. I felt like giving him a good thrashing. He told me that I needed to follow him immediately and go see the Arch Mage with him. I was being led around like a puppy and I did not like it. Ancano introduced me to a monk from the Psijjic Order named Quaranir. This Quaranir was telling me that the sphere was bad news. Well I had already figured that out. None of the markings were like anything anyone had ever seen. It was in fact a powerful artifact and it was so strong it blocked the ability of the Psijjic Order to communicate with me. As this monk spoke I realized that all time had stopped. Ancano and the Archmage were motionless...unbreathing. The monk explained it took all of his concentration to do this and he would not be able to continue much longer. He basically told me I needed to find the Staff of Magnus. This staff was incredibly powerful. I said I would do it to prevent a possible calamity and I left in a hurry to talk to Tolfdir. He did not know anything about it but told me of someone who did. This person called the Augur of Dunlain lived underneath Winterhold and apparently might know about it. I agreed to go talk to this Augur in the Midden.




The midden was a relatively scary place. Replete with undead and giant spiders. However I did find the Augur, although he was not a man but rather a presence of sort. He told me that the staff of Magnus was the only device with enough raw power to deal with the sphere which was being callled the eye of Magnus. It was the only way it could be controlled. However the Augur did not know where to find it. He said the Archmage might know so I agreed to talk to him.






I found Savos next to the sphere and I told him I needed to find the Staff of Magnus. He said it had come up in a conversation he overheard with Mirabelle and an apprentice.


Upon talking to her she told me that the staff was last known to be in the ruins of Mzulft which was a dwarven ruin. Curses what had I gotten myself into? However, naturally, I was not the only one looking for the staff. Now some other group was looking for it as well. Some group called the Synod.



All of this made my head spin. In the morning I would head out and see if I could find these ruins and put this whole Mages College debacle behind me. I had been trying to get home and it seemed I had been drawn further away. A part of me wanted to simply leave all this behind but I realized that would be abandoning the very thing I still had. I still had a sense of duty to the people of Skyrim. I may have been an orc in rags after Helgen but I have to think that there is still a reason for me to be alive. And in the meantime I vow to help everyone I can and leave myself out of it.

I looked at the map and realized that Mzulft was not too far from Riften. Riften was where the target of that Aretino's boy request to the black brotherhood was. Perhaps I could fulfill the contract after getting out of the ruins. I would cross that bridge when I came to it. For now I needed sleep.

[Chirurgeon]

I think I am going to break up the next update into two parts. It is simply too unwieldy to accomplish in one update

[NotYetRegistered]

I love this AAR! Keep the good work up.

[Chirurgeon]

I love this AAR! Keep the good work up.

Thank you very much! That means a lot to me

[Chirurgeon]

2nd of Sun's Dusk
I awoke in the morning and packed for a long journey. I was painfully aware that much of my merchandise was still locked up at the Silver Blood Inn at Markarth. I missed that place. For all its faults it was the closest place to home I had outside of Bruma. I even missed Kleppr's wife yelling at him. I smiled as I packed what I needed.

I traveled south through the pass that went by Fort Kastov. Turned towards Windhelm and entered the rift near Kynesgrove. Here I had my first battle of the day. I was picking up some creep clusters and dragon tongue when the sabercat charged me. I learned to anticipate its moves and worked fast to put the beast down. With arrow and mace he soon was dead at my feet. I cut away its skin and salted the pelt and rolled it up.


I traveled south and started to climb up towards the Riften area. The ruins would be on my left according to my map. Indeed they were. Something in the bushes alerted me and a blackish blur charged me. It looked like a wolf at first glance but it was way to big. This was a man beast. It was a werewolf. I gulped in fear and stayed myself. It moved incredibly fast and countered my every defensive move. It slashed and hacked at me sending me reeling. I was in real trouble. I rebounded and made it stagger. It withdrew for a moment to look at its wounds and I quickly healed and applied a powerful poison to my mace. It launched at me and its left claw caught my cheek and chest. I was surprised it had not taken my eye. Feeling the hot rush of blood down my face I used the beast's momentum to my advantage and turned to his flank as he lunged at me again. I hit him three times before he could recover and he was down for good. As for Grodash I was but a heartbeat away from joining this beast. I took its skin as proof that I had indeed put it down and moved up to the main entrance of Mzulft. I hoped that would be the last time I would see a werewolf.



I entered the ruin easily enough and sitting on the ground was a mage that had been seriously injured. Gavros was his name and he was telling me that he was trying to get to Cyrodill to find a new lens for some Dwemer contraption in this place. Before he could tell me much more, he perished. However he did manage to tell me that there was a place deep inside called the Oculary where the other mages of the Synod order were meeting. He told me to head in that direction.




I opened the door with a key that I found on Gavros body and entered the ruin. The smell and the sights reminded me so much of the Dwemer ruin that Markarth sat upon. I thought of Calcemo and how much he would love this place. Well I have this journal so hopefully he can take a look when I get back there. For now I had to focus on getting through this place.

I pressed my way inside and the place was crawling with Dwemer spiders. They went down pretty easily though. I also found some moonstone which I could always use. I opened a door and saw a tree living underground being illuminated from above. Fascinating how the Dwemer still had a splash of nature all this way down underground.








I moved into the passageway and froze with dread as I heard the sound of a chaurus moving around. It had a distinctive rattle and I knew what it meant...Falmer. If there are chaurus then the falmer are also around. I found a massive specimen of a Chaurus feasting on one of the researchers and I let it have it with my arrows. It had trouble finding me and it gave me time to turn it into an insect looking cacti. With my arrows sticking out of its body in various angles I took what I could but realized my arrow supply was dwindling. Between the mechanized machines and the chaurus chiton most of my arrows were breaking or bent so bad to be unusable


I killed several more of the chaurus but had yet to find the falmer that accompany them. Instead in a room a Dwemer sphere sprung to life and relentlessly attacked me. Sparks flew as my metal met its metal and in a short time it was nothing more than a heap of dwemer scrap on the floor.



I pressed on only to find myself increasingly being attacked by Dwemer machines. At one point I was pushed off a small ledge by some sort of trap and found myself fighting a sphere and two spiders. I prevailed but part of my armor was torn and I was badly bruised. It was times like this I wished I was a lazy chieftain in some distant stronghold.




I moved deeper into the ruins and found the missing falmer. However they were already dead. Laying scattered around their bodies were Dwemer machines that had bested them and in turn had been bested. I went through several rooms and came upon these battles which had ended up with both sides losing apparently. It was still a mystery who actually prevailed. I suppose I would find out as I pushed my way deeper.



I entered the boilery and found a falmer waiting at the top of the ramp. I doused an arrow with poison and drew my bow back to its maximum tension and let it go. The arrow moved at a blazing speed and hit the falmer with great force. The fire enchantment caused it to burst into flames and the poison assured its death. In a fiery flash it was dead.


Two more Falmer got in my way and I put one of them down with my bow and the second one charged me. Soon it joined its brother in a mass of twisted burned flesh. This place was crawling with Falmer but so far they had been in pairs or groups of three. Certainly manageable.



Another room and more Chaurus. I put two of them down in a flaming victory. I was able to keep my distance because of my bow but I was desperately low on arrows. I had to find some soon or I would be only able to use my maces. With the success of my bow attack I really did not fancy that idea much.



As i made my way down a hallway two more falmer lay in front of me. I had to put them down. Notching the last of my arrows I put one down but the other continued on. I pulled out my maces and put down this one nasty falmer who had used a ward spell and had a conjured weapon of some sort. I had seen other falmer use magica which made me question how primitive they truly were.


Without arrows I was forced to rely on brute force to overwhelm my enemies. Lightly armored I would not be able to rely on the thickness of metal to protect me, rather how fast i could put my enemies down.

I finally came upon a door which apparntly lled to something that might match the description Gavros had given before his death. I entered knowing that what lie beyond might be worse than what I had already seen. All this with no arrows.


More Falmer and more chaurus to fight. i was using the element of surprise to close the distance with my enemies but it was not perfect. The Falmer had remarkable hearing and made it nearly impossible to attack them at close range without them being aware. However I was able to close the distance pretty effectively.


In another room I found three falmer roaming around and I had no choice but to take them on. I charged the main one that was wielding a conjured sword. I laid into him with elven metal and shattered its body despite its use of wards to keep my attack at bay. The other two were pretty easy as well. After the battle was over I felt a bit more confident in the use of my weapons and looked forward to more challenges. Upon searching the bodies one of them was carrying some kind of focusing crystal. Not sure if this is what the Synod order was looking for but if any of them were still alive in here it would be worth finding out.





I pressed on only to find a room with several dead Falmer but a sphere that was clearly not dead. I reasoned that the falmer were dead because of the sphere so I readied myself. It noticed me and came to life. We collided in an epic struggle. I parried its attacks and at the same time struck it in the most vulnerable areas. Sparks flew as we danced into each other with whirling arms and collisions of metal and flesh. I was cut and bleeding and it was dented and emitting sparks. In a heroic fight we both flung ourselves at the fight head on. It fell apart and I finished it with a reverberating smash that sent pieces flying across the floor. Dead it had given me a real run and I was exhausted. I took out some rations and ate them not knowing what the rest of this place would offer me.




After the battle was over I searched a nearby chest and found a key that opened up a nearby door. However the second door would not open but there was a voice from the other side. It seemed someone was still alive in this place.

[Chirurgeon]

A mage by the name of Paratus Decimius opened the gate and was surprised to see me. He demanded to know where his colleagues were. I told him they were dead and he became enraged. However he calmed down when I showed him the focusing crystal. He was suddenly a different man and began to explain what was going on. Essentially there was a huge array that apparently used the stars to power it.

I placed the focusing crystal and he told me to use a combination of ice and cold to focus the beams. One by one they came into alignment. Next I had to get the beams to hit the glass windows around the room. Three rings went around the room and I moved each one until each window in each ring was picking up light from the focusing crystal. It worked flawlessly.


An image of Tamriel was projected on the wall and in that image where skyrim was, was apparently some interference. This device, which harvested magica from the stars, would not work until the interference was removed. The college had one source of interference and the second was in Labrytheum. The latter was where the staff was Paratus explained. Only the eye of magnus and the staff of Magnus were strong enough to cause this level of interference.


On my way out Quaranir again came to me and congratulated me on my progress. He urged me to get to Labryinthean as quickly as possible. I told him I would go there after a good nights sleep. I decided to head to Riften to take care of some business.



The run to Riften was relatively peaceful. I stopped by Shor's Stone and talked with the smithy who had told me that their mine was infested with spiders and if I helped I would be rewarded. Apparently the town guard wasn't going in. I told him I would try to help when I got the chance but in all honesty I had enough on my plate. I had the chance to gather some ingredients along the way and in the process realized I was exhausted. It would be dark soon and upon arriving some guard tried to make me pay to enter. I told him I wants and he let me in.




I decided to do the deed I had come here to do. I entered the orphanage and found an old lady chastizing the children and was beating one particular girl with one hand and scolding the rest with the other. No wonder that kid wanted this woman dead. I walked up to her and gave her a solid push to seperate her from the orphans. In one swift move my battlehammer came around from behind and smashed her skull. At the same time I slammed my mace into her face essentially squashing her head between my weapons. She fell to the floor completely dead and I must say she did not suffer. After a moment the children jumped up and down and cheered. I was a bit shocked but their rejoicing seemed to justify my actions. She truly was not "kind" as her name said. Satisfied I snuck out and headed to the inn for a much needed drink. After a few ales I headed to a room and laid down for a long nights sleep. I needed it as I had not slept in two days.

[NotYetRegistered]

Nice chapter. Are you planning to join the Thieves Guild?

[Chirurgeon]

No plans as of yet. I have so many unfulfilled things to do right now that another thing on my plate is not what I need at the moment. But I cant rule it out

[Chirurgeon]

I woke up just before the shopkeepers opened and took a while to have some food. I hearty breakfast felt so good. I finished up my meal and began to hit up the local merchants for supplies. I visited the smith and spent part of the morning tanning some hides and crafting some light armor. I headed over to the apothecary and general store and unloaded some extra potions I did not need and then decided to head back to Winterhold after a brief stop in Windhelm.


On my way I was attacked by two cave bears. Not sure how it happened but one minute im fighting one and another one runs up from behind and had I not moved quickly it would have knocked me down and likely eaten me. I was in a desperate fight and I was amazed that I survived quite frankly. It was a scary moment for Grodash. But it feels like those scary moments are more common now.


I pressed on and arrived in Windhelm in the early afternoon. Aventus Aretino was quite happy that the head mistress of the orphanage had been killed. He gave me a family heirloom as payment and I left. I headed up over the pass and towards Winterhold. A courier caught up with me and told me some shady man wearing all black had given him a lot of money to make sure I got this message:



It was working. I had managed to upset the Dark Brotherhood. Perhaps my chance of revenge for all those assasinations would be arriving soon. As if on que I was attacked by yet another inept assasin. Seemed Khajiit and Argonians were the ones always after me. In a fiery blast of blood and smoke she perished as quickly as the fighting had begun.


Winterhold looked normal enough when I arrived and it was nearly dark when I got here. I went to find Savos and the place was abuzz. Something was happening in the hall of the elements. Oh great I thought. Now what! I entered into a maelstrom of swirling magic preventing access to hall proper. Savos was there along with Mirabelle. They were throwing all kinds of spells at the shield guarding the room. Eventually the opened it and went in.


Ancano was doing something with the sphere and lightning danced from his fingertips. I went to move on him and suddenly everything turned white. I was physically moved to the periphery of the room. So was Mirabelle. She was injured laying on the floor and I was incredibly disoriented by it all. She told me to find Savos immediately. I did find him but to my shock he had perished. The blast that pushed us to the edge of the room had somehow killed Savos. Ancano had erected another forcefield that was more compact then the first. It would be much tougher to breach.




But alas we had bigger problems. The sphere or Ancano, it is unclear, had somehow unleashed magical anomalies that were now attacking the town. I rushed down to help and two mages were already there doing battle. Glowing orbs that moved fast and hit hard were all over the place. I counted around ten. It took awhile but eventually they were destroyed and the town was safe again.






I ran back up to the Hall of Elements to talk to Mirabelle about what happened. She had recovered some of her strength but was still weak. She told me it was of utmost importance that I get to Labrynthian. She gave me some items that she thought I could use and wished me luck. How is it that now the fate of things was now in my hands! How did I get embroiled in all this? I packed my bags and headed out. There was an Inn between Winterhold and Whiterun and I decided to settle there for the night. I had to have my focus. The room was spacious but there was no door. I wasnt real keen on the idea but I was tired and just wanted some sleep.

[Darkan]

Great read man. + rep. Truly great AAR!

[Chirurgeon]

Thanks a bunch! I will have another update tonight

[Chirurgeon]

Got a big update coming up.

[idefelipe]

Hi Chirurgeon!!

Just register to say hello. I'm spanish and my reading is slow (still in page 4) but I can't wait to to congratulate you for this wonderful AAR. This kind orc (and his maces) have inspired me to make my own AAR in Skyrim but it's in blog and in, obviously, spanish.

Well, keep with this AAR and I'll follow it!! (please excuse my poor english)

[G-Ballz]

I am loving this AAR! Great work, Chirurgeon! I just wanted to leave a comment. I've only caught up to your February 11th post (been reading 1 or 2 updates per day). I can't play Skyrim because my PC isn't good enough, and I don't have Xbox or PS3. And due to finances, I simply won't be able to play Skyrim for at least a year or two... if not longer. So I am truly living through you in this AAR. I played Morrowind a whole lot and loved it, but starting with Oblivion by PC could no longer run these TES games. I hope you keep this up! I really enjoy your writing style, point of view, explanations, and screenshots. If I was asked for suggestions, I would suggest two things: 1) occasional screenshots showing all your ratings or a character summary screen, and 2) make sure to explain what's happening in the screenshots. Sometimes something happens in a picture and what's happening is not explained. But I do not mean to complain! I know you want feedback, so there's some. I'm really enjoying this, please keep it up! Take care.

[Chirurgeon]

5th of Sun's Dusk
Something was wrong. I was paralyzed. I could hear and see but i could not move. I felt so weak. It only took me a moment to realize I had been poisoned. I knew I should have slept at an Inn that had proper doors. How had they found me here? It must have been the innkeeper. He seemed a bit suspicious but I blamed it on my fatigue. I was being moved in a cart somewhere. By Malacath why couldn't they just kill me? Maybe they were going to torture me.


I faded out and woke up in a shack of some sort. I was disoriented and had no idea where I was. Astrid, the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, was addressing me. She sat atop a book shelf peering down on me. She scolded me for stealing a kill for the brotherhood. I remained silent and then she told me that I had to kill one of the three people tied to poles in the room. Judging by the blood on the floor this was not the first time she had or someone from the dark brotherhood had used this place for this purpose. In order for me to leave I had to kill one of these people. I decided to change the rules of the game. I whirled around with my maces and smashed the bookshelf Astrid was sitting on. She fell but landed on my feet and asked if I had lost my mind. She was fast with her blade but I gave her no room to maneuver. She was cornered and I poured the weight of my battlehammer and mace into her flesh. Cracking bones and bruised flesh was the order of the day and Astrid was being pulverized. She barely had time to lash out. She begged me to stop and I told her she should of thought of that when she sent wave after wave of assassins after me. A final desperate move to elude me failed when I hooked her legs from the back and she was airborne. I spun around and slammed my hammer into her chest like I was hammering a big nail. The sounds of crushed ribs and gurgling air was all that emanated from Astrid. I walked away and let the prisoners go. I went back and carved off some of Astrids flesh and devoured it. With Namira's appetite satiated I felt much better.









I opened the door and had no idea where I was. It was night time and judging by the moons it would be dawn soon. I was suddenly griped with fear when I saw a werewolf across the water. I saw deathbells and Swamp fungal pods and realized I must be near Morthal. I scanned the terrain and decided it must be straight ahead. I sprinted with everything I had. The werewolf was hot on my tail. I finally outran it and made it to the town. It was dawn and the beast had turned around and left. I told the town guard about the werewolves and he told me that ever since the vampires had been killed the normally reclusive werewolves were growing more emboldened. Well that's just perfect. I get rid of vampires only to have werewolves take over.


I also told the guard that I had killed Astrid. He told me that I needed to speak to a legion commander in Dragonbridge. Well that would have to wait. I had to get to Labrynthian to retrieve the staff of Magnus. I went into the Inn and slept for a few hours before seeing Lami at the apothecary and then decided to head off to get the staff of Magnus.





I headed north to reach the location and only had to contend with a frostbite spider before getting there. The complex was teeming with frost trolls. I managed to avoid a few but still had to battle two of them. I went up some steps and found six mages in the spirit standing before the door. I was given a key of sorts by Mirabelle and it worked. The doors opened and I went inside. Im surprised the dark brotherhood hadn't robbed me and I still had my possessions






The entrance was littered with skeletons. Obviously a fight had occured here but I did not know what. The mage ghosts were ahead of me and they were talking about events that had clearly already happened. They were talking as if I wasnt there. Savos kept telling them to push on. The rest of the group did not want to go on but he insisted.




I entered a huge room and in the center was something completely unbelievable. Erupting out of the ground was a dragon. This dragon was nothing but a skeleton but nonetheless a dragon. It approached me and then screamed out a jet of cold air. I drew my maces and began hacking at its head with elven steel. It did not like this and blasted me again with a jet of cold air. It recoiled after another attack and i used the opportunity to heal myself and replenish some energy. I renewed my attack with vigor and this time it died.




In the next room the group of mages was missing a mage and they were talking about how terrible it was. Savos again urged them on. That they had to do this in memory of the mage. I still had no idea what they were talking about doing or rather that they did not even seem to know that I was here.

I moved on and descended down some stone ramps and had to battle a variety of draugrs on my way. Alas I found myself at the bottom in ankle deep water. Ahead of me was a door and inside a large room. In the tunnel next to the room I could hear a troll. I quietly went in and put it down with two well placed arrows and poison. I went across a bridge and found a skeleton on the other side. An arrow hit it and sent its body parts flying.


I snuck up on two more trolls and a few more skeletons and put them down as well. I vividly remember the days when your standard troll was too much of a challenge for me. The first time I ever killed one was with my good friend Gorbash the Iron Hand. I missed Gorbash. We made a good team and it saddened me that he is gone. I hoped he was watching me and would be proud of how far I had come.





I pressed on and found a cemetary of sorts. There were slowly orbiting spheres that were similar to the anomalies at Winterheld but a bit smaller and slower. I took out my bow and began to shoot them. They were destroyed in one hit and when they died they exploded. The caster of these spheres made herself visible. Seemingly ethereal she floated over the floor and looked for me. I put several arrows into her after coating them with a poison that would make her weaker to fire. Soon she split herself up into copies of herself. I was confused and one by one i destroyed the clones. The caster withdrew but it wasn't fast enough. I sent an arrow careening into her ethereal body sending her back from whence she came. I found some ectoplasm and wisp wrappings amongst the fallen creatures.






I proceeded on and Savos and his little group was even smaller. Another member had died. Now there were only four. I kept moving and in the next series of areas I was attacked by draugrs that had a bluish/purple hue to them. They glowed in the darkness. Made them easy targets for my arrows. Deeper I went and more of these draugrs. They carried weapons that could sap your strength, your life, or your magic. Finally I came to a room with a throne. Sitting on it was draugr death lord.







I pulled out my weapons and we began our dance of death. I realized I was over-matched and drew upon my orc blood for strength. I became virtually immune to pain and I had an overwhelming strength that i could feel in my limbs. I could hear my heartbeat and breathing and I was intently focused on my quarry. Finally it was done. The broken body of a great adversary. However the staff was not here either.


I pressed on and came to a room that had a powerful sorcerer. It was a dragon priest. That is a liche. Typically very powerful like the dragon priest of Valthume it was to be a great fight. I used stealth to my advantage. The room was full of shadows, stairs, and bridges. A perfect combination for me to fight from. I attained a high vantage point and took out one of the priests supplying this creature with power. Then I took out the second. The dragon priest knew something was going on and before he could do anything I had sunk an arrow into its ancient flesh. This was not enough to deter it and it continued its search. Two more arrows. And then three. Six arrows into its skin and still it searched. I reached into my quiver and I only had two more left. It had found me. But I kept a pillar between him and I. I used the last of my arrows and charged the liche. It backed up to give it some distance but I continued to smash its body. Using all my strength i finally killed it with its skin smoldering it fell to the floor next to the treasure chest that it guarded. I took the mask and the staff it was wielding. It was the staff of Magnus! I had found it at last! I searched the chest and took what I could carry and left the chamber happy to be alive and happy to have the staff.





Next to the chamber I found a sad Savos who had apparently done the same quest along time ago only for his entire group to be wiped out by the challenges of the Labrynthe. I felt bad for him but I hoped that my success could bring him some sort of closure to the matter.


Outside another Thalmor member told me that he was happy I was successful and ordered me to relinquish the staff. I refused. Instead I pulled out my maces and he laughed at me. Talking about how he was going to turn me into dust. I made this elf eat his words and continued on my way. Clearly the Thalmor had followed me here and wished me dead. They only wanted me to run this errand. They knew I was going to get the staff and they waited till I had it before they made their move. Judging by my fatigue and the fact that I was low on potions and out of arrows I decided it necessary to find a town that could help me with this. I decided to head to Dawnstar with the hope that I could replenish some of what I had lost.



The trip to dawnstar was relatively uneventful. I arrived late in the afternoon and I was exhausted and hungry. I went straight to the inn had an ale and a great meal of horker stew, bread, and cheese and quite quickly fell asleep.

[Chirurgeon]

Hi Chirurgeon!!

Just register to say hello. I'm spanish and my reading is slow (still in page 4) but I can't wait to to congratulate you for this wonderful AAR. This kind orc (and his maces) have inspired me to make my own AAR in Skyrim but it's in blog and in, obviously, spanish.

Well, keep with this AAR and I'll follow it!! (please excuse my poor english)

Thank you Idefelipe! I am so glad you have taken time to join Grodash in his journey through skyrim. I am most honored that I have inspired you to start an AAR. Its for this very reason that I like to write AARS. Thank you for following and I hope you like pages 5-9!

I am loving this AAR! Great work, Chirurgeon! I just wanted to leave a comment. I've only caught up to your February 11th post (been reading 1 or 2 updates per day). I can't play Skyrim because my PC isn't good enough, and I don't have Xbox or PS3. And due to finances, I simply won't be able to play Skyrim for at least a year or two... if not longer. So I am truly living through you in this AAR. I played Morrowind a whole lot and loved it, but starting with Oblivion by PC could no longer run these TES games. I hope you keep this up! I really enjoy your writing style, point of view, explanations, and screenshots. If I was asked for suggestions, I would suggest two things: 1) occasional screenshots showing all your ratings or a character summary screen, and 2) make sure to explain what's happening in the screenshots. Sometimes something happens in a picture and what's happening is not explained. But I do not mean to complain! I know you want feedback, so there's some. I'm really enjoying this, please keep it up! Take care.

Thanks G-Ballz! I am glad you are following my AAR. I am most grateful for your compliments and again quite happy to have you along for the ride! I don't really have a character summary screen but have sort of shown Grodash through time with screens. I had some paper that I was writing down all the stats with but I seem to have misplaced it. If I find it I will post a chronology of his progression. Again thanks for following and I will make sure to explain screenshots that might not quite fit. I forget that people that are reading this do not necessarily play skyrim. Thanks again!

[Chirurgeon]

7th of Sun's Dusk
In the morning I awoke feeling quite refreshed and decided to head down to see the Alchemist of Dawnstar. She was most grateful to have her ring back and rewarded me with some knowledge of potion creation. I had learned so much about alchemical ingredients since entering the world of Skyrim. I then proceeded to the blacksmith and bought some arrows for the trip back to Winterhold. I asked the blacksmith if I could take the shoreline to Winterhold and he told me it was quite possible. He warned me about the Horkers that resided on the rocks and of the occasional bears and Sabrecats. Nothing Grodash couldn't handle!



Before I left however I stopped by a building that a man had claimed was a museum about the Mythic Dawn. This was a group that several hundred years ago had started the Oblivion Crisis and ended the Septim line. This man wanted me to see the various artifacts of the cult that he had collected over the years. He had a sheathe for daggers that they carried along with some robes of the cult members and a manuscript written by Mehrunes Dagon many years before. It was all very impressive. When he was finished talking to me about this he offered me some ale and made his pitch for me to go retrieve the various parts of this weapon he wanted me to find. It was called Mehrunes Razor and it was a dagger of utmost power apparently. I told him that I already had one part that was found in Hags Reach by Markarth and he was quite pleased. He practically begged me to find the other parts immediately and I told him that he needed to relax and that if I could I would.






I bid him good bye and set up the coast. I found a sanctuary for the Dark brotherhood on the way and the black door seemed to whisper to me. Chills went up my spine and I moved on. At some point I was going to have to see this legion captain and talk to him about what I did. The death of Astrid would no doubt create some chaos and perhaps they would stop hunting me.



I moved on and battled a few horkers keeping their tusks to later sell at a vendor. I then found a campsite with a letter written to a woman named Shelly. However the owner's skeleton was inside the tent. It looked like Shelly never came.


Later a cave bear attacked me and I was able to avoid its attack or overwhelm the beast so that it couldn't attack me. I was quite happy to put it down fairly easily. It did manage to get me across the hand where my battle hammer was held and soon the wound began to fester.



By late in the day my hand was throbbing. Based on this I guess I had contracted bone break fever. I rummaged around my pack and found a cure disease vial which I gulped down quickly. Feeling better I ran up towards Winterhold only to find it completely surrounded by the same whirling shield that had been in place before. I was stunned to find out that the mages could not breach it and that Ancano's power had grown exponentially. I showed Tolfdir the staff and a smile came across his face. I pointed the staff at the ward around Winterhold and he nodded. The other mages stood back as the staff of Magnus came to life. White lighnting flew from its tip and within a moment of hitting the field the lightning began to flow towards the staff instead of away. Tolfdir was astounded. The staff was absorbing the power of the field. After a few moments it was over and the field dissapated. We rushed in.




Ancano was still present with his outstretched in a communication of sorts with the Orb. Tolfdir told me to point the staff at the orb. I asked if he was sure but before I could hear a response he was on the ground from a well placed fireball from Ancano. I aimed the staff at the orb and huge white flash occurred. I was disoriented and realized that must not have worked. Magical anomalies were whirring around divebombing me and breaking my focus. I focused the staff instead at Ancano. At first nothing seemed to happen but his magica was being drained at a fast rate. With his mana gone he was powerless to do anything. Now the staff was absorbing his life. Ancano was distraught. He had no recourse. He pulled out a dagger and rushed me but fell on the floor a few feet from me. His life was now in the staff.





Tolfdir got up and was a bit staggered from the blindside of a fireball but he helped me destroy the magical anomolies that were zipping around the room. Suddenly my ears popped and a rush of air revealed three members of the Psjiit Order. Quaranir was among them and he congratulated me on my accomplishment. He told me that he feared this would happen. The world was not ready for the awesome power of the eye of Magnus. He continued to tell me that the Orb must be returned to a safer place. In my head I was thinking the original location in skyrim wasn't exactly safe. I asked how he was going to get the sphere out of the room. He told me not to worry about that. He told me to keep the staff however and to safeguard it. Maybe in a distant future the eye and the staff could be reunited. He nodded and turned his head. The three monks put their hands toward the sphere and with a great display of humming and light the sphere and the monks winked out of the room, disappearing completely. I could not believe it. How is it possible someone like me could have been involved with something like this?






Tolfdir came over to me his hand on my shoulder and told me that Savos would have wanted me to be Arch Mage. I nearly fell down when he told me that. He handed me the key to the Archmages quarters and told me it was mine. I looked at the intricate key and shook my head. I placed the cord that the string was on around Tolfdir's neck. I told him that I could not possibly be the arch mage. He shook his head as if to not understand. I said that I did not have the passion to embrace magic like others had. "You have to safeguard this key until someone else could be found", I remember saying. I told him that I was going to leave as soon as my job was done here. Winterhold would always hold a place in my heart but not enough to rule over it. I did ask if it was ok to come back from time to time to access the vast library and use the alchemy labs and he told me that was absolutely fine. He didn't seem to understand why I didn't want this honorable position but I hoped he would understand that the Mage's college was not a place for me right now. What was important is that things were back to normal again.


I left Winterhold and made the journey to Windhelm. My goal was to spend the night there and then head out towards Riften in the morning. I had hoped to Get to Bruma either that day or the next. I was anxious to get to my family again. I was really beginning to miss my mother's cooking!

Windhelm was particulary cold that evening and I talked to the blacksmith about various things. He asked that if I was ever near a place called Cronvangr hall to look for a sword of one queen Freydis. I told him that I was pretty busy at the moment but that should I return to Skyrim I would look for it. I had no doubt that I would be back after resting at home for a while.


I went into Candlehearth Hall and it felt good to sit by a warm fire and drink some ale, listen to music, and for once not to be swinging my weapons.