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Thread: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 20th May 2018]

  1. #101
    Caillagh de Bodemloze's Avatar to rede I me delyte
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 5th October 2015]

    Chapter Twenty-Two: The Spider

    In the end, I did buy a couple of Farengar's spell-books. I chose oakflesh, because it's supposed to mean that if someone attacks you, they'll do less damage. Sort of like having better armour. I thought that would be handy if I met any more wolves, which Farengar says are common in Skyrim. I also picked one Farengar called "clairvoyance", even though it isn't supposed to do anything I'd call clairvoyance. Back at home – in the universe I come from, or the real world, whichever it is – "clairvoyance" is being able to see the future. Here, apparently, it's something to tell you which way to go to reach your destination. I call that "a sat-nav". My mum calls it "a map", not that she's any good at reading maps.

    After that, I went shopping to get that set of clothes I'd been promising myself, and supplies for my trip to Winterhold. Not for the first time, I found myself thinking how fortunate I'd been to find my rucksack after it had been taken from me by the Imperial soldiers. Nobody here seems to sell decent rucksacks. Presumably everyone but me has a horse, and uses saddlebags – or a cart if they need to move a lot of stuff. Even better than just finding the rucksack was the fact that it still had almost all of my belongings in it. The soldiers must have thought nothing I had was worth taking. I disagree. Although I have to admit that matches do seem less useful now I can start fires just by thinking about it.

    Which is something I really need to think about. Is magic real? Or did I just hallucinate burning my hand – only feeling the pain because I believed I was hurt, rather than because I truly was? Farengar reacted as if my fire spell worked, too, so at least other people here can see, and presumably feel, flames I create. Of course, I might be hallucinating the people as well as the fire. In which case, my spells will do nothing to protect me against the cold, or cook my food. But if everything I experience is hallucination, then if I believe I've started a fire using a match, that might be an illusion too, no matter how warm I feel. In the end, I can do nothing other than trusting my senses. After all, I have no other way of knowing what's going on around me. Ma'Jhan was right. So I'm going to have to believe in magic after all. At least while all my senses agree it's happening.

    Not that I believe it's really magic, of course. There has to be some reason for things happening, other than that someone just happened to want them to. If that worked, I'd have been back at home the moment I saw Ma'Jhan and thought he was a lion...


    By the time I'd finished shopping, it was almost dusk, and too late to set off for Winterhold, so after another night in the Bannered Mare – and if I have to spend another night there with that bard of theirs squawking away into the later-than-just-early hours of the morning, I might just act on the Jarl's suggestion that I buy a house of my own – I gathered up my belongings and strode briskly along the road towards Winterhold.

    At the crossroads, where Ralof took the road to the east a few days ago, I turned with an enormous sense of relief to the north, following the sign for Winterhold. All I had to do now was walk to Winterhold, which Farengar said was a journey of a couple of days. If I kept practising my magic all the way, the wizards would surely speak to me, and then I was as good as home.

    To my surprise, I was actually excited to be off to see the wizards at last. I wandered along cheerily, casting small tongues of flame and crackles of lightning at random rocks, as the number of farms scattered along the road gradually diminished. Even out beyond what seemed to be a disused, rather dilapidated watch-tower, there were still people on the road, though, including a guard wearing a white cloth instead of Whiterun's yellow. Presumably that meant I was no longer in the territory belonging to Whiterun. I wonder how many different territories there are in Skyrim?

    Further along the road, I saw one of the most astonishing sights of my life. Somehow, although I feel as if dragons and the walking dead ought to be such incredible sights that nothing afterwards can ever really be surprising, it turns out it doesn't work like that. Dragons and wights are so implausible they almost don't seem real, even when they're trying to kill you, but mammoths – even mammoths with four tusks – are so solid, so believable, so inescapably real that it was a huge shock to me to see them, figures from the ancient history of my world, standing calmly in a clearing by the roadside. I felt as if I'd been dropped into a slightly more benign version of Jurassic Park. Real, living mammoths. It was wonderful.

    Well, it was wonderful until I turned round and saw the horror that had been approaching while I'd been distracted by the mammoths. Suddenly, with my brain frozen in terror, I understood what had built all those enormous spider-webs in Bleak Falls Barrow. It had been enormous spiders. Enormous spiders who seemed to think of human beings as small snacks. I wasn't sure I would have time to get to my axe before it reached me, so I did my best to make Farengar proud by aiming a burst of flame into its face. The spider recoiled, clicking angrily. Unfortunately, as I'd discovered when Farengar was teaching me, I ran out of flame very quickly, and although the spider was hurt, it was nowhere near being disabled. I grabbed my axe and shield as quickly as I could, but the spider still had time to slash my arm with one of its forelegs. I did my best to fight back, but the thing was too quick, and its blows were too powerful. I was beginning to lose hope of surviving the fight when the spider spat in my face. The spit must have had some kind of poison in it – perhaps the same substance that gave it its foul stink – because I fell to my knees with my vision blurred and my head swimming. I thought at the time that it had affected my hearing, too, because as I went down, I thought I heard the sound of someone running. Someone human. Or maybe an elf, I suppose.




    I expected that to be the end of the fight – well, the end of me – but I was still alive when my vision cleared, thanks to the guard I'd seen on the road earlier. He had obviously been the cause of the running footsteps I'd heard; he had been running to help me. He seemed to have injured the spider quite badly, but it was still fighting back, so I made the most of the fact that I was behind it, and swung my axe hard. Those spiders are tough. Or maybe I need a better axe. I don't think I did any damage at all. But at least the guard knew he wasn't on his own any more. It only took us a few more minutes to kill the spider after that.

    “You all right?” asked the guard. I didn't seem to have any serious injuries, and I knew I could heal small injuries, so I said I was fine and asked how he was.

    “Oh, I'm well enough. These damn things turn up every month or so, so we get a fair amount of practice at killing them. You might not want to travel alone round here, though. If you come across two of these beasts at once, things can get a bit sticky.”

    I didn't really want to admit things had been very sticky for me with just one oversized spider, so I promised I'd look out for a travelling companion and that I'd be careful in the meantime, and we nodded at each other and set off in our different directions...
    Last edited by Caillagh de Bodemloze; April 22, 2018 at 11:58 AM.






  2. #102
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 5th October 2015]

    Doesn't count as a journey in Skyrim unless you get attacked!

    I honestly couldn't tell if the book destruction thing was your idea or Bethesda's.... very immersive

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  3. #103

    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 5th October 2015]

    Agree with waveman, its not a journey in Skyrim unless you're attacked by countless annoying bloody spiders and wolves.

    Nice use of the screenshot as well, although that has become common place in this AAR

  4. #104
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 5th October 2015]

    I recognise the feeling of wonder which Yannick has when he sees the mammoths. The way that Yannick compares what he sees to things in our world - the world that Yannick is from - helps to make your story feel authentic. I'm intrigued about which companion(s) Yannick will travel with, if he follows the guard's advice, and how many more territories in Skyrim he will explore as he searches for a way home.

  5. #105
    Caillagh de Bodemloze's Avatar to rede I me delyte
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 5th October 2015]

    Quote Originally Posted by waveman View Post
    Doesn't count as a journey in Skyrim unless you get attacked!
    Quote Originally Posted by Merchant of Venice View Post
    Agree with waveman, its not a journey in Skyrim unless you're attacked by countless annoying bloody spiders and wolves.
    Oh, yes. And bandits, and [long list of other things that haven't appeared in this AAR yet]...

    Thank you both!


    Quote Originally Posted by Alwyn View Post
    I recognise the feeling of wonder which Yannick has when he sees the mammoths. The way that Yannick compares what he sees to things in our world - the world that Yannick is from - helps to make your story feel authentic. I'm intrigued about which companion(s) Yannick will travel with, if he follows the guard's advice, and how many more territories in Skyrim he will explore as he searches for a way home.
    Thank you!

    At the moment, of course, Yannick's out in the middle of nowhere, with a grand total of zero potential companions nearby, so for now I think we can be pretty sure who he'll be travelling with...






  6. #106
    Caillagh de Bodemloze's Avatar to rede I me delyte
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 8th November 2015]

    Chapter Twenty-Three: Lost

    I was on a snow-covered slope dotted with trees. I was freezing cold. And once again, I had no idea where I was, how I'd got here, or how long it was since my last memory.



    I could see a road below where I stood, and I decided to head toward it. Roads generally go somewhere, and if there are buildings and people, you can find out where you are. And how far away you are from where you wanted to be. Naturally, it wasn't as easy as just walking down the hill to the road. Although I could see the road clearly, I was standing near the edge of what seemed to be a cliff, with no obvious path down to the road. I'd found a way to get to this hillside, so there must be a way to leave, even if it wouldn't take me straight to the road. If the snow had been less powdery, and the icy wind less blustery, I might have been able to follow my footsteps back the way I came – whichever way that was. But I could see no footsteps, and, looking around, I could see no way to go other than further up the hill. Maybe if I walked up and along I'd eventually find a way of getting down to the road. Or at least to somewhere. Since I had no other ideas, and I was going to freeze to death if I just stood still, heading uphill seemed like a good idea.

    As I went, I collected as much fallen wood as I could carry, tying it into a bundle with my rope. If I couldn't find a town, or at least a farm with a solid, warm barn I could shelter in overnight, I was going to need a fire. At least I should be able to get a fire started easily now – and Farengar had said I'd need to keep practising.

    When I reached the top of the ridge, I discovered precisely what I should have expected: there was no direction that led obviously down to the road. The only obvious way down was the way I had come up. I wasn't even at the top of the hill; more snowy ridges loomed above me, so I couldn't even have an overview of the surrounding land to see if there was a settlement anywhere nearby.

    Just as I was about to panic at the thought of being completely lost in a snowy wilderness full of wolves and ridiculously large poisonous spiders, I remembered I'd bought Farengar's satnav spell. The spell-book had said I needed to concentrate on something distinctive about the place I wanted to go to, and think about wanting to be there. It was difficult to think calmly about a college full of wizards when I was so close to running in a circle shrieking “Help!” but I took several deep breaths and did the best I could. To my astonishment, a bubbling stream of purple light flowed away from my feet in an almost straight line across the snow. I had no way of knowing if it was leading me the right way, of course, but I had nothing to lose. Any direction was better than running in a circle.



    The stream of purple light didn't go very far ahead of me, and it faded as soon as I stopped concentrating on it, so I had to keep recasting the spell. I'm sure Farengar would have been impressed by my diligence. Eventually, however, that diligence paid off – around mid-afternoon I came to a road. I don't think it was the one I'd seen before, but it was as big and well-kept as any I'd seen in Skyrim, so I was sure it was a road people used. The purple light told me to turn right onto the road, so I did, remembering with some relief how much easier it is to walk along roads than to wade through snowdrifts.

    After what seemed a very short time, I could see a large building ahead of me. It wasn't entirely welcoming – there were chevaux-de-frise on either side of the road – but I put that down to caution on the part of the building's owners. Skyrim seems to be full of vicious wildlife, has at least some bandits, and is in the middle of a civil war, so perhaps caution is reasonable. As I approached the building, I could see it looked rather like a fort, which reassured me. A fort manned by troops loyal to either the Empire or the Stormcloaks would naturally want to be defended – and they hadn't blocked the road, so presumably non-partisan civilians were allowed to pass. I strode briskly on, past the chevaux-de-frise. As I passed a gateway, I thought I saw movement inside the fort. I almost stopped to ask how far it was to Winterhold, but I doubted soldiers on active duty would be likely to offer lost travellers a bed for the night, so I just kept walking. At least, I kept walking until I heard footsteps behind me, running.

    Then I turned round, and it was a good thing I did, because the footsteps belonged to a skeleton carrying a sword – and clearly intending to use it against me. (An animated skeleton! Just like in Jason and the Argonauts! Except real, and scary...) I dropped my bundle of wood, grabbed my axe as swiftly as I could, and swung at the skeleton. With hindsight, that
    was probably not the most sensible thing to do. One of Farengar's flame spells would probably have worked better. The problem with trying to hit a skeleton with an axe – or, presumably, any other solid object – is that most of the bits you expect a person to have just aren't there. My axe scraped against a bone and slid off as often as I did any damage. That was a problem, partly because almost all of the skeleton's blows hit me, but mostly because while I was busy trying to knock the skeleton out (or whatever the equivalent is for a skeleton), the robed woman behind it was roasting me alive with the fire streaming from her fingers.

    At last, the skeleton toppled to the ground. No longer a coherent whole, its individual bones scattered across the snow as I aimed my fire spell at the robed woman. I thought – or perhaps 'hoped' is the better word – that it would be better to use magic against her, because that way I didn't need to wait until I was close to her before I attacked. It was a foolish decision. I was already hurt, and she was clearly much better than I was at fire magic. A minute or so later, I was on the ground, gasping in anguish, expecting to see the woman's face above me, sneering as she killed me.

    I did see a woman's face looking down at me, but not as soon as I expected. And before I saw the face, I heard shouting and screams, and then heavy footsteps and the clank and jingle of armour. And the face looking down at me was green. I was about to be killed by She-Hulk.

    Except I wasn't. The woman knelt down next to me and held a hand out by my mouth and nose – no doubt to see if I was still breathing. I tried to tell her I was alive, but I could only manage a spluttering sound. Fortunately, that was enough to convince her I was only mostly dead. She pulled out a small phial from her belt pouch and poured the contents down my throat, almost choking me. Immediately, the pain was dulled. Perhaps it was some kind of anaesthetic, but if so, there was something else in that phial with it, because the raw, seeping burns on my hands were healing as I watched. Within moments, I could sit up, and then stand. The woman held out a second phial to me, but I shook my head – I wanted to try healing myself. I still wasn't very good at healing myself, so my spell didn't last very long, but by the time it stopped, I felt almost back to normal. I couldn't see any sign of burns, and my face, when I touched it, felt – well, as smooth as it has since I've been wandering around in a world with limited shaving facilities.

    I turned to the woman who'd helped me and thanked her – and got my first proper look at her. She really is green. And she has teeth like you wouldn't believe – kind of upside-down vampire fangs. Or the teeth of a wild boar, where the two canines from the lower jaw stick out beyond the lips. And she has pointed ears, like an elf.

    She made an annoyed, or possibly disgusted, sort of grunting sound. “Thanks is hardly enough. Your fight disturbed the sabrecat I was hunting. I didn't catch it, so I can't sell it, so you'll be paying me for saving your neck.”

    “I... Right. Yes. Of course. How much...?”

    “You think I'm going to wave good coin around outdoors, where all the thieves and bandits in Skyrim can see me? Hah! Where are you planning to stay tonight?”

    As if she wasn't embarrassing me enough already. I had to admit to her that not only did I not know where I was going to sleep, I also had no idea where I was. Just as I was beginning to expect, that earned her disgust, too. Or maybe her contempt. She snorted, turned on her heel and issued a curt command, as if to a dog: “This way.”
    Last edited by Caillagh de Bodemloze; April 22, 2018 at 11:55 AM. Reason: Added missing word. Embarrassed it took me this long to spot it...






  7. #107

    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 8th November 2015]

    I like how you've turned Yannick's adventure into an actual survival story not just the I'll just walk for miles with no consequences that a journey in Skyrim turns out like. I see you're using a mod about the cold already, have you considered using one of the survival mods as well. I remember there was one where you could craft your own tents and fires and it was pretty easy to die from the cold. I wonder what the next chapter with the orc will turn out like.

  8. #108
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 8th November 2015]

    I'm liking the way that Yannick is adapting to this strange world, overcoming his reluctance to believe in magic and finding practical uses for it, like finding his way in an unfamiliar snowy landscape. I'm also enjoying the way that he (as a person from our world) interprets the people and creatures he meets in ways that make sense to him, like seeing the mysterious green woman and thinking that he had met She-Hulk.

  9. #109

    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 8th November 2015]

    Been a while the last I dropped in. Very good, as per usual, it's nice to see how Yannick is learning about the world he's in: by being trounced repetitively in the head =p Also, man, does he have some oddly strong luck! I'd dare say he's touched by Nocturnal herself.

  10. #110
    Caillagh de Bodemloze's Avatar to rede I me delyte
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 8th November 2015]

    Quote Originally Posted by Merchant of Venice View Post
    I like how you've turned Yannick's adventure into an actual survival story not just the I'll just walk for miles with no consequences that a journey in Skyrim turns out like. I see you're using a mod about the cold already, have you considered using one of the survival mods as well. I remember there was one where you could craft your own tents and fires and it was pretty easy to die from the cold. I wonder what the next chapter with the orc will turn out like.
    Thank you! One of the things that seems weird to me in Skyrim is that although pretty much all the residents of Skyrim, wildlife or otherwise, will try to kill you as you wander around, you can just keep running for ever. (It's a very handy ability, but it is a bit weird.) I thought it would be more interesting if Yannick was more like a real person. Although...

    Aha, my nefarious plan has worked perfectly; I have fooled you completely! As it happens, I'm not using a cold mod - purely because I thought it might end up being too difficult to get Yannick to wherever he needs to be for the next stage of the plot if I had to cope with making sure he has the right clothes and so on. I do intend to try and make it look as if Yannick's affected by the cold and the need for shelter, though (hence the cloak mod). Thanks for the idea, though, I hadn't thought of tents, and that would be nice. I'll have a look and see if Campfire (is that the one I mean?) will do that without an actual survival mod...

    I had fun writing the orc, so I hope you'll have fun reading the next chapter.

    Quote Originally Posted by Alwyn View Post
    I'm liking the way that Yannick is adapting to this strange world, overcoming his reluctance to believe in magic and finding practical uses for it, like finding his way in an unfamiliar snowy landscape. I'm also enjoying the way that he (as a person from our world) interprets the people and creatures he meets in ways that make sense to him, like seeing the mysterious green woman and thinking that he had met She-Hulk.
    Thank you!

    Quote Originally Posted by luck_ponte View Post
    Been a while the last I dropped in. Very good, as per usual, it's nice to see how Yannick is learning about the world he's in: by being trounced repetitively in the head =p Also, man, does he have some oddly strong luck! I'd dare say he's touched by Nocturnal herself.
    Yeah, it's been a while for me, too. (Picture of me being too embarrassed to show my face in public -> ) I've been (well, I still am) involved in writing a Critic's Quill thing that's been sucking up all my writing time. My apologies. Normal service - if I can work out what that is - will be resumed as soon as possible.

    It's good to see you, though, and thank you!

    And yes, Yannick has been amazingly lucky. (Although I will admit he died at least twice to get the screenshot of the fight in chapter 23. Enemies just never think about the composition of the screenshot when they attack you, do they?!) There is - possibly - a reason for Yannick's luck, though. It may (or may not) become clear eventually.

    [edited to say: Yes, Campfire was the one I meant. Looks as if it might work... Thanks, Merchant!]
    Last edited by Caillagh de Bodemloze; December 02, 2015 at 06:23 AM.






  11. #111
    Shankbot de Bodemloze's Avatar From the Writers Study!
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 8th November 2015]

    Quote Originally Posted by From Chapter 21
    But if I start believing in all this stuff, will I ever get home?
    A very poignant line I felt, you can't help but wonder if he will or not. Great job on the recent chapters, really enjoyed them.
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  12. #112
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 8th November 2015]

    Thank you, Shankbot!

    Before I go back to trying to outwit the Skyrim Creation Kit (I'm really not good at this "modding" thing), a new chapter should appear below to prove this AAR isn't dead...






  13. #113
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 26th January 2016]

    Chapter Twenty-Four: Shulgak

    I followed the green elf back the way I'd come along the road. The elf led me past the place where I'd joined the road, my tracks still clear in the deep snow, and I shivered as I was reminded of that cold, despairing trek in search of anywhere at all. After half an hour or so, we came to a junction. In one of the angles of the junction, with its back to a huge rock, sat a hut. Its shingled roof sloped down to the ground on both sides, and its overhanging eaves made it feel welcoming, although the sharp-looking mammoth tusks curving round the door did reduce that welcome rather.



    So did the fact that it was obvious the hut belonged to the green elf. She went inside. As I hesitated, wondering whether to follow her, she turned and snapped, “Come on!” So that answered that question. In I went.

    She had picked up my carefully-collected bundle of wood from where I'd dropped it in the fight. Now she handed the rope back to me and piled the sticks and branches near her fire to dry.

    “Sabrecats are valuable.” She was clearly not the sort of person to mess around wasting time with small-talk. “You can sell every last part of them – even the meat, if you know who to talk to. So. What do you have that I can sell in its place?”

    “I have some money...” She snorted.

    “Enough for a sabrecat?” She obviously didn't think so. “Show me what else you have.”

    I rummaged in my rucksack. I don't really know why I bothered – I knew what was in there, and there was nothing valuable, at least nothing I would part with. I couldn't afford to give her any of my food, or my clothing, or weapons and armour. They were keeping me alive. Well, they had been doing, until I met the skeleton. And the few things I still had from home were too important to me for me to give them to anyone. So I expected to reach the bottom of my rucksack, and then have to pull out the remains of the Jarl's payment – and hope it would be enough, since I had no idea how much a sabrecat was worth. But when my hand reached the bottom of my rucksack, it touched fur. I pulled it out. It was a beautifully-marked silvery-grey pelt. And there was another one in the rucksack with it. The elf picked one up and examined it.

    “Hmm. Clean kill. Nice work. Where did you get these?” I hesitated. I had no idea where I'd got them – I certainly hadn't owned them before the most recent gap in my memory. But I wasn't sure it would be a good idea to admit I was having blackouts. Not to a complete stranger. Particularly one as fierce as this one seemed to be. It had worked out fine with Ma'Jhan, admittedly, but then his first words to me had been rather more friendly than the green elf's. “After that mess at the fort, you can hardly expect me to believe you killed two ice-wolves.” Maybe I was going to have to tell the truth.


    “I... no... It's just that I don't remember where I got them.”

    “You don't remember.” She was contemptuous. “Well, it doesn't matter. They'll do as part of the payment for my sabrecat. They're good, but not enough. What's your name?”

    I was tempted to lie. I
    wasn't sure I trusted this woman with my name. But I was sure that if she thought I was lying to her, my chances of leaving the hut alive would fall rapidly.

    “Yannick Morgan.”

    “Amazing. A thing you can remember.” She sniffed disapprovingly. “Well, Yannick Morgan, you owe me. Now get out.”

    I hurriedly picked up my rucksack and went to the door. A thought occurred to me; I could at least check my satnav spell was sending me in the right direction. I turned back.

    “Er... Excuse me?” She looked up from rolling the pelts into neat bundles. “Which way to Winterhold?”

    “Hah!” If there had been the smallest amount of friendliness or amusement in it, it might have been a laugh. “Winterhold? You? You'll never get to Winterhold on your own. Even if you could get past Fort Kastav – which you've proved you can't – the bandits would get you. Or the sabrecats and snow bears. Or the horkers and slaughterfish if you go round the coast. But –” she looked me up and down critically, “– I say you'll freeze to death first.” She went back to rolling pelts.

    My heart sank. How would I get home if the road to Winterhold was so dangerous? Then the elf snarled wordlessly under her breath, then paused in her careful tying of the roll of furs.

    “Which means if I send you out there now I'm killing you. Maybe I should. There'd be one idiot less in the world. But.” She sighed. “Not my job to decide that. I leave that to Malacath. So. Go down the road outside to the mill.” The elf stopped and looked at me, speaking slowly as if to a small child, or, well, an idiot. “Down, understand, not up the hill. Tell Aeri – the mill-owner – Shulgak sent you. She'll give you a bed for the night. And from now on travel with someone who can fight. Or get some proper training. They say the Companions in Whiterun teach people to fight, for a fee. And don't expect me to help you again.” I nodded, I think. “Go on, out!” She glared at me, and I left, hastily.


    Outside it was cold, and almost dusk. I was almost sure the elf – Shulgak – had been trying to scare me with all her talk about the dangers of northern Skyrim, but still, I didn't want to take the chance that I might freeze to death if I stayed outdoors at night, so I set off down the hill at as brisk a pace as I could manage. I could hear the rush and rattle of a large, fast-moving river to my right, and now and then I caught sight of it hurrying along beside me, the last of the light shimmering on its rippled surface. I got out my wind-up torch, and wound it as I went. And I hurried more than I had been doing; if I was still walking when night fell, I wasn't sure my torch would be enough to stop me wandering off the path and into the river, and if that happened, my chances of getting out again were even smaller than they would be in daylight. If I ever see Farengar again, I'm going to ask him about that spell of his for making a ball of light that follows you around. If it's better than my torch, I might be tempted to buy it. I tried using my fire spell, but it was useless, and I ran out of flames really quickly. I suppose I just hadn't realised quite how dark it is in places with no streetlights. I should have done, though. There are some braziers in Whiterun, but even so, there are parts of Whiterun where walking around in the dark can easily lead to walking into buildings or falling down steps.

    At last, I saw lights shining from a window ahead of me. With a sigh of relief, I marched jubilantly towards the building. Or buildings, as it turned out. One enormous open-sided one to the right of the path, and two smaller, more house-shaped ones to the left. I'd have had to walk through someone's garden to reach the door of the first house, so I knocked on the second door. A woman opened it.

    “Are you Aeri? Shulgak sent me.” The woman was looking at me. Not exactly hostile, but obviously not quite sure about me. “Shulgak, the elf who lives up the hill? She said you'd find a bed...” I trailed uncertainly into silence, because the woman was laughing. Not all that loudly, but as if she couldn't stop; as if I'd cracked an impressively funny joke. I was bewildered. I certainly hadn't meant to be funny. Maybe Shulgak sending me here was the joke. Maybe Aeri – or whoever this woman actually was – was some kind of bandit who, rather than find me a bed for the night, was intending to kill me, throw my body in the river, and take my stuff. Maybe I should make a run for it. I looked around to see which way I could go if I ran.

    The woman took a deep breath. “You think Shulgak's an elf?”

    I turned abruptly back to her, no doubt looking very confused. “Ah, you really do!” She started to giggle again, but she beckoned me into her house, and I followed, happy to be out of the bitter cold, although unsure what I was walking into.

    Once we were inside, she sat me at a small table and handed me a bowl of thick, savoury vegetable soup. She sat, too.

    “Well, for that amount of cheering me up, how can I deny you a bed? You'll chop me some wood before you go tomorrow morning as payment.” I nodded. Chopping wood was a job you had to be alive to do.

    Well, maybe. Unless this woman knew how to turn me into one of those walking dead things. I shuddered.

    “Finish your soup, and you'll soon warm up,” encouraged the woman. She propped her elbows on the table, and her chin on her hands. “I'm Aeri. Who are you?”

    “Yannick Morgan. I'm trying to get to Winterhold, but...”

    “Ah. Yes, the roads to Winterhold can be difficult for a newcomer.” I looked up from scraping the last bits of soup out of the bowl. She flapped a hand at me, dismissively. “Well, it's obvious you're a Breton, not a Nord. If you were a Breton who'd lived here for a while, you'd either be able to fight your way past the horkers and the bandits, or you'd know to travel with a group. And you'd be more used to seeing orcs around. So you must be new to the area.”

    Orcs? Was Aeri saying Shulgak was an orc? One of those things in the Lord of the Rings? But this isn't the Lord of the Rings, whether it's real or not, so how can there be orcs?

    “Although I suppose orcs and elves are supposed to be related, way back, so you weren't quite as wrong as you might have been. Better not let Shulgak hear you call her an elf, though.” Aeri snorted, clearly still highly amused. I suspected it wouldn't matter whether or not I called Shulgak an elf – Aeri wasn't going to be able to stop herself from telling Shulgak about this. Not that it made much difference, since Shulgak's opinion of me could hardly drop much further.

    “Ah, well. Maybe you can find someone in Windhelm who'll travel with you. It's only a step or two from here, you can easily get there tomorrow. In the meantime,” she stood, “you can sleep in the common house, where my labourers live. Come, I'll show you.”
    Last edited by Caillagh de Bodemloze; April 22, 2018 at 11:51 AM.






  14. #114

    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 26th January 2016]

    Another witty chapter, I like Shulgak 'the green elf' and her snappy dialogue. I had to say you nearly had me fooled even with the pictures. I saw the pictures and was like she's not a green elf, she's an orc, or maybe she is an elf, no she's definitely an orc. Excellent use of an unreliable narrator. Also the passage about all the threats which could kill him in between there and Winterhold should be on every guide to Skyrim. Skyrim: Everything will kill you like it does in Australia but it's cold.

    Glad to see this back.

  15. #115
    Shankbot de Bodemloze's Avatar From the Writers Study!
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 26th January 2016]

    Brilliant! Loved the confusion between elf and orc... an innocent enough mistake to make for sure.

    I hope he finds the company he'll need in Windhelm.
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  16. #116
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 26th January 2016]

    I agree with Merchant (I like your line about Skyrim being like Australia) and Shankbot . I wonder if Yannick will meet Shulgak and Aeri again in his adventures, I enjoyed their dialogue with Yannick.

  17. #117
    Caillagh de Bodemloze's Avatar to rede I me delyte
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 26th January 2016]

    Quote Originally Posted by Merchant of Venice View Post
    Another witty chapter, I like Shulgak 'the green elf' and her snappy dialogue. I had to say you nearly had me fooled even with the pictures. I saw the pictures and was like she's not a green elf, she's an orc, or maybe she is an elf, no she's definitely an orc. Excellent use of an unreliable narrator. Also the passage about all the threats which could kill him in between there and Winterhold should be on every guide to Skyrim. Skyrim: Everything will kill you like it does in Australia but it's cold.

    Glad to see this back.
    Thanks, Merchant!

    I don't know what you mean... Yannick's very reliable. He always writes down the truth - as he understands it...

    I liked your line about Australia, too.

    Quote Originally Posted by Shankbot de Bodemloze View Post
    Brilliant! Loved the confusion between elf and orc... an innocent enough mistake to make for sure.

    I hope he finds the company he'll need in Windhelm.
    Thank you, Shankbot. I wouldn't like to get ahead of myself, but I'm sure Yannick will eventually find some company. (Skyrim's stuffed full of mercenaries for hire, after all.)

    Quote Originally Posted by Alwyn View Post
    I agree with Merchant (I like your line about Skyrim being like Australia) and Shankbot . I wonder if Yannick will meet Shulgak and Aeri again in his adventures, I enjoyed their dialogue with Yannick.
    Thank you!

    Well, without giving too much - or, in fact, anything - away, Yannick desperately wants to get to Winterhold, and one of the obvious routes to Winterhold goes past Shulgak's hut (and therefore quite close to Aeri's mill), so I wouldn't want to entirely rule it out.






  18. #118
    Caillagh de Bodemloze's Avatar to rede I me delyte
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 21st February 2016]

    Chapter Twenty-Five: Windhelm

    I woke early this morning – probably because of the snoring from Aeri's labourers – and decided to make a start on chopping wood for Aeri. After all, I had no idea how much wood I'd have to chop before she thought I'd paid for the soup and the use of the bed.

    When I went outside, I was stunned. I hadn't been able to see much of the area when I arrived, in the dusk, but it was glorious. Aeri's mill was not, as I had assumed, a grain mill. It was a lumber mill, like Gerdur's in Riverwood. The large open-sided building I'd passed was the mill itself, housing an enormous saw and a pile of logs, ready to be turned into planks. Behind the mill was the river I'd walked beside to get here, bouncing and jostling its way along in the morning sunlight. And behind that was a beautiful range of snow-covered mountains, stretching into the distance, shining white and gold in the sun. While I stood, gazing in admiration, one of the labourers came out of the common house, yawning and stretching, and started loading a log into the guide channel. Watching someone else work reminded me I'd been intending to find the mill's chopping block, and soon I was splitting logs to a good, steady rhythm.



    I heard people coming and going around me, but I paid no attention, determined to finish my work for Aeri and leave. Shulgak had told me to return to Whiterun, but I was planning to go to Windhelm and find someone to go with me to Winterhold, as Aeri had suggested. The sooner I get to Winterhold, the sooner I can go home...

    Suddenly, someone stuck a mug of beer under my nose. I looked round. “Take it,” insisted Aeri, waggling the beer-mug and shoving a plate of ham and dark bread towards me. “You've done plenty of chopping for one night's hospitality.” Not being foolish enough to refuse breakfast when it was offered, I set down the hatchet I was using, took the plate and mug, and went to find myself a spot where I could watch the river as I ate.

    Like any good guest, I returned the plate and mug to Aeri once I'd finished with them – well, once I managed to tear myself away from the sight and sound of the moving water. To my surprise, and a small amount of horror, Shulgak was sitting on the bench outside Aeri's house. I wasn't at all sure I wanted to have to talk to Shulgak again, but there she was, sitting next to Aeri, impossible to avoid. I sighed and walked over to the bench. Shulgak looked up. “Aeri says you're going to Windhelm.”

    “That's what I suggested,” said Aeri, cheerfully. “Seemed like a good plan to me. He might find someone who can take him to Winterhold.”

    Shulgak sniffed disbelievingly. “He'll need someone good; it isn't as if he'll be helping them in any fights. Better chance of finding someone there than here, I suppose.”

    “Ask at Candlehearth Hall, that's my advice. It's right in front of you as you go through the gate, you can't miss it.”

    “Full of thieves and drunkards.” Shulgak was turning out not to be an optimist.

    “Well, yes, it probably is. But how many mercenaries do you know who don't like a drink? And innkeepers generally know which mercenaries are in town, even the ones who aren't sitting in the tavern.” Aeri turned from Shulgak to me. “Candlehearth Hall is your best bet.”

    “I'll walk with you.” I was surprised. Well, I was surprised Shulgak was prepared to be within twenty or thirty miles of me, not just that she was offering to walk with me. My surprise must have shown. “I doubt you'll get even to Windhelm alive without help. I've seen you fight.” I suppose at least she thought it was better to keep me alive than not to... “And I have pelts to sell in the city,” ...although possibly she'd have left me to my fate if she hadn't already been planning a trip to Windhelm.

    The whole area around Aeri's mill is stunning, and I wasn't exactly making any effort to engage Shulgak in conversation, so I wasn't really paying attention to anything but the scenery when I noticed Shulgak unsheathing her sword. That focussed my mind. Fortunately, I'd learned from previous experience that wandering around Skyrim without an easily accessible weapon was a bad idea, so I was carrying my bow, already strung. I stopped in my tracks. Shulgak growled at me: “Good idea. You'll just get in my way.” I was almost tempted to listen to her – she's obviously far better than I am in combat, and I'd have been killed without her help at the fort yesterday. But there were three of them, spread out, so I was certain I could at least manage not to hit Shulgak. I grabbed an arrow, nocked it, drew, aimed, and fired – and the first wolf went down before Shulgak reached it. She took the second while I wounded the third, and she finished the third off. When I caught up with Shulgak, she was wiping her sword clean. “Better with a bow than a sword, then.” She took out a knife to skin the wolves.



    Windhelm is a bleak-looking place. Impressive, but bleak. It's surrounded by a huge wall of dark stone, and the main gate looks as if it's pretty serious about keeping people out. To reach the main gate, you have to walk across a bridge – more dark stone, with high walls on either side. Any invaders would be funnelled into a narrow channel, and I imagine guards could easily stand on the bridge walls and above the main gate. I arrived at the main gate feeling slightly intimidated. No doubt that's the idea.

    That feeling didn't last very long, though. As the gate was closed behind us, we found ourselves listening to a group of people having a conversation nearby. Well, I call it a conversation. Really, it was more of a harassment. A dark elf (definitely an elf, this time; grey skin, pointy ears, red eyes – they all have red eyes, so maybe I was wrong to think Irileth's are contact lenses) was being bullied by two humans.

    “You know you're not wanted here, but you don't leave. You eat our food, you drink our wine, you take our jobs – and you won't even help the Stormcloaks.”

    “We haven't taken a side because it's not our fight.”

    “Hey, maybe the grey-skins won't help us is because they're Imperial spies!” The second man was obviously drunk, which made me wonder if the first man had been drinking too.

    “Maybe we'll pay you a visit tonight, little spy. We got ways of finding out what you really are.” Drunk or not, he wasn't wearing a guard's uniform, so surely he shouldn't have been threatening people. Then his drunk friend noticed Shulgak.

    “Hey, it's the homeless orc! Remind me, why don't you live in a stronghold, like a real orc?”

    The other man decided to join in. “Civilised people live in cities. Orcs live in their dirty strongholds. Even the orcs don't want this one. It's just gutter-filth.”

    Shulgak calmly pulled out a long, viciously curved dagger and examined it carefully. “I think the edge has gone,” she said, apparently to no-one. “I should test it.” She glared at the two men, who suddenly seemed to remember they had an appointment somewhere else. They stumbled away, muttering.

    Shulgak re-sheathed her dagger. “That,” she indicated a large building in front of us, “is Candlehearth Hall. The market is that way.” She pointed to the left, and then turned abruptly and walked off in that direction. I suppose she was going to sell the pelts from her hunting.

    “I take it the two of you don't get on,” remarked the dark elf. I shrugged. 'Not getting on' didn't seem like quite the right description, but I didn't want to say 'Shulgak despises me'.

    “You hate dark elves, too?” Damn. Apparently shrugging had made it look as if I didn't want to talk to dark elves. Admittedly, I hadn't thought much of the one I met in Bleak Falls Barrow, and I'm terrified of Irileth, but Irileth is also a pretty impressive leader and fighter...

    “No! No, I don't hate dark elves.” I wondered if changing the subject would help. “Why do they think you're a spy?”

    “The Nords just want a reason to hate us. It doesn't matter if it's true.” She sighed. “It isn't just us. You saw how they treated your friend. And it's the same with Argonians. Some Nords think anyone who isn't a Nord is fair game, so don't be surprised if they start telling you you're not wanted here.”

    “I... Right. You'll be all right? I mean, they were threatening to visit you and... beat you up, or... something... I could find a guard, if you like.”

    She sniffed. “Those two louts won't visit me. By this evening, they'll have drunk so much they won't even remember seeing me. And it isn't as if the guards would do anything, anyway. Thank you, though.” And she walked past me and out through the main gate, leaving me to explore this city where only Nords are welcome.


    Last edited by Caillagh de Bodemloze; April 22, 2018 at 11:48 AM.






  19. #119
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 21st February 2016]

    Great chapter, I enjoyed the contrast between the warm hospitality of Aeri's mill and the bleak stone and ugly prejudice which Yannick witnessed in Windhelm. Shulgak is a great character and the images are incredible, particularly the one with the dark bridge and the rainbow of sun glare. I wonder how Yannick will get on in a city where only Nords are welcome.

  20. #120
    Caillagh de Bodemloze's Avatar to rede I me delyte
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    Default Re: A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 21st February 2016]

    Thanks, Alwyn! Windhelm is turning out to be a good place to get nice screenshots of.

    As for how Yannick gets on in Windhelm, well, see below...






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