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Thread: Reforged || Chapter Three, 11.02.19

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    Hitai de Bodemloze's Avatar 避世絕俗
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    Default Reforged || Chapter Three, 11.02.19



    'The Great War between the Empire and the Thalmor consumed the Empire and nearly destroyed it. Emperor Titus Mede II eventually brokered peace with the Thalmor, but at a price many of us still bear. The reach and destructive nature of the Thalmor is known to many. They are not fools. They knew early on that the Blades were an enemy. So they hunted them throughout the Great War. Some were killed defending their Temples, others as they slept in their hideaways, alone. Some fought, some ran, some hid. But the Thalmor found them all.

    There are those that say the Blades still exist around us, in hiding from the Thalmor. Waiting as they have done time and time again, for a Dragonborn to return. For one to protect, for one to guide them.'

    Anonymous, The Rise and Fall of the Blades

    Contents

    Act One: The Herald of the World's End
    Chapter One
    Chapter Two
    Chapter Three



    Dramatis Personae
    Lein
    An orphan girl from Karthwasten. She is left blinded in a dragon attack on the town, whereafter her life is spared out of pity. Gifted the knowledge of the draconic language Dovah-Zul, she is tasked to be the Leinal Qolaas, the Herald of the World’s End, spreading word to man and dragon alike of Alduin’s cataclysmic return. Yet in the blasted snowlands of Skyrim, the skeins of fate are never so easily untangled, nor destinies set in stone…





    The Scourge of Karthwasten
    A dragon with a dark heart and a darker sense of humour. After his rebirth he lays waste to the town of Karthwasten, slaughtering its inhabitants and leaving the settlement a smoking ruin. When he encounters Lein, a survivor of the massacre, he mockingly allows her to live: granting her fluency in the language of the dragons and commanding her to go out into the world to herald the elder dragon Alduin’s return.

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    Hitai de Bodemloze's Avatar 避世絕俗
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    Default Re: Reforged


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    Hitai de Bodemloze's Avatar 避世絕俗
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    Default Re: Reforged

    Chapter One

    Her eyes were burning.


    Lein screamed as her world descended into blackness, fingernails impotently clawing at the flames wreathing her face. She felt blood and dirt run down her cheeks as she tried desperately to fight against the inevitable, a gurgled prayer to Talos on her lips: please, please save her. Not from death; death she could handle. She had seen Ainethach die in the first few minutes of the attack, the old Reachman’s body tumbling from the roof of Karthwasten Hall, quiver still loaded with the arrows he hadn’t had chance to even nook. She had watched as Ragnar charged forward with his pickaxe, only to be tossed aside like a child’s doll, crashing dead into the ashen ground. Mena too; trying to shelter her children from harm had only hastened her demise, as mighty talons ripped open the spine from her turned back. These weren’t noble deaths, but they were blessed deaths, and Lein wished now she could follow them to Sovngarde. Please, please kill her, she prayed, and save her from blindness.

    She crawled erratically in the dirt, her sense of direction lost. The world was chaos around her; she heard screams, and flames, and mighty wingbeats, a symphony of death and despair that reached a crescendo so dizzying it all but paralysed her. She smelt blood, and soot, and smoke, the horrid concoction making her gag as she struggled to breathe. She felt wooden timbers crash against her as they fell from above, and the dirt beneath her prone form that she wished would just swallow her up whole.

    But worst of all, she still saw. But she saw not the world before her, but the world that was. Mockingly, tauntingly, her memories interwove with her imagination, creating the image of the world in her mind’s eye. The ominous black storm clouds overhead, the cinderstrewn buildings of her home, and above all, the alabaster-blue dragon that had descended from the heavens to wreath her town in flame. She saw it all in her mind, as the images flashed rapidly before her again and again, as if trying to rectify the overwhelming blackness that met the gaze of eyes that no longer were.

    And it was black. Blacker than the deepest cave or the darkest night, she felt like she was tumbling through an abyss, her mind unable to come to terms with the sudden loss of its most basic and crucial sense. As the illusions of memory and fantasy tugged at the edges of her mind, when she tried to open her seared eyes, to look out on to the world as she had done since she were a babe, she saw only darkness. And it was excruciating.

    Lein coughed and spluttered, as she continued to crawl. She didn’t know where she was going, nor where she was. She had been running, running out of the village, when the dragon had passed overhead, the beat of its wings a thunderclap that had thrown her off balance and into the side of a burning house. It had been then that the flames had taken her. Now she lay on the ground, broken and useless, praying that she might die in place of one of her screaming kinsman.

    Yet, she no longer heard the screams. She furrowed her brow as tried to make sense of what was happening. She still heard the roar of the dragon, circling overhead, as well as the smouldering flames of the town. But the screaming had stopped. Did that mean… had they all died? Was she the only one left?

    Her heart soared pitifully in her chest as the sound of the dragon’s wings beat nearer and nearer in her ears. It was descending, descending now to put her out of her misery. She heard a crash and the splintering of timber, as the sound of its mighty wings finally faded to nothing.


    “Ful, gein jul kiir nahl…”

    The dragon’s voice was jagged and sonorous, like a mighty wave crashing against rocky shores. Lein didn’t understand the words, but they seemed to come from behind and above her. She dragged her limp body round to face in the direction of the voice, raising her head reflexively to look up at the dragon. There was of course, she rued bitterly, nothing to see.

    “Volost miin!” the voice came again, drowning her senses in its sheer enormity and sending a tremor through her frail bones. It uttered another sound, a rich and guttural rasp that she could only presume was a laugh. “Krosis. Kiir hind dinok, geh? Aal yol aak kiir kotin Sovngarde.”

    Lein let out a gasp. Sovngarde? Had the dragon just mentioned Sovngarde? She knew not if men and dragons shared the same netherworld, but she welcomed that word now. Thank you Talos, she offered up one last prayer, before slowly picking herself up from the ground. She was no daughter of Skyrim, no honourbound Nord, but she would still face death on her feet, not shivering in the dirt like an animal.

    “Grik mulaag! Kiir volaan dir? Mindoraan… Kiir laan nahl?” the dragon let out another raucous laugh, as Lein tried feebly to pinpoint its location. “Sahrot ahrk onik Nahkraumuul ofan hin hind. Zu ofan kiir Dovah’zul mindoraan, kiir fen kos faal Leinal Qolaas, bovul kotin lein prodah Alduin zinddaal!”

    She did not know what was going on. Was the dragon taunting her? Lein stood, uneasy on her feet, feebly directing what was once her gaze in the direction of the beast. She wanted to reply, to say something, anything, that might help hasten her demise, but her throat was ashen and stung, dry and scratched like the deserts of Hammerfell. It took all her strength now just to remain on her feet, facing down this monster.

    “Zul! Maar! Vul!”

    In a flash Lein was sent sprawling back to the ground. Those words… they had been different to the others. They rode the air like a chariot, barrelling her over and then taking hold, ringing in her ears round and round, faster and faster. Zul! Maar! Vul! The words thundered in her head, beating a rhythm against her skull stronger and heavier than the dragon’s splayed wings through the skies. Zul. Maar. Vul. The words drowned out all of her other senses. She could no longer hear the dragon, or the village, or the world at all. She could not smell or touch or taste; she could barely even think as the words engulfed her. ZulMaarVul. She wanted to scream, but the sound wouldn’t come; her throat seized up and choked. It was as if the words were surging through her body, replacing the very blood in her veins and claiming her for their own. Zulmaarvul. She raised her hands to her head, beating a tattoo against her skull. Get out, get out, she thought to herself frantically, get out of my head! Words and terror and darkness, spiralling in her mind out of control.

    And then as quickly as they had come, the words left her, escaping away into her memories and leaving her bruised and breathless on the ground. She gasped for air, trying to steady her shaking body. She vomited, out of nowhere the bile forcing its way up and out of her throat. She had no control over herself anymore, it was all she could do to just keep breathing.

    But she was still breathing. And she wanted to breathe, by Talos did she want to breathe! Her heart was racing fast in her chest and her hands were shaking uncontrollably, but she was still alive. And she was going to stay alive, Sovngarde be damned. Coughing and wheezing, she pushed herself up onto all fours. She wasn’t going to stand up and face her death anymore. This time she was going to run – run for her life.

    Suddenly she felt a rush of wind and the stench of flame and death overwhelmed her once again. The wind came in a steady rhythm, like the steady hiss of steam in a forge. It took a moment for her to realise it was the dragon’s breath, barely a few feet from her now.

    Good, you are still alive… Many don’t survive that particular shout of mine,” a voice echoed through the air. It had the same pitch and timbre as the dragon’s had before, but surely it couldn’t be the dragon – this voice was speaking her language of Tamrielic.

    I will survive…” she replied, her voice a choked whisper on the wind.

    Another guttural rasp. Was it laughing again? “I’m counting on it,” the voice came again, before a mighty gust of air carried it away, the thunderous flap of wings cracking across the sky. “Now go, my herald. Go and spread the word of Alduin’s return, and the ending of the world!

    Bowled over once more by the blast of air, Lein felt her consciousness finally begin to slip away. “Niid…” she whispered as she passed out, registering only then that the dragon hadn’t spoken Tamrielic at all.

    And neither had she...
    Last edited by Hitai de Bodemloze; January 27, 2019 at 11:37 PM. Reason: Tweaking the screenshot, needed a touch more blur

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    Caillagh de Bodemloze's Avatar to rede I me delyte
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    Default Re: Reforged

    That's a fantastic start!

    I like the idea that Alduin's return should be announced by a herald, and I'm intrigued to find out how Lein will feel about being given the job. I wonder whether she'll have any choice, or whether she'll find she has to tell everyone. And, of course, I wonder whether anyone will believe her story.






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    Swaeft's Avatar Drama King
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    Default Re: Reforged

    A Skyrim AAR? Count me in!Just don't turn me into one of those frostbite.


    A very intense beginning, nice! And so begins the journey of a determined young girl who will in time, I hope, make the scourge of Karthwasten rue the day he ever let her live. In particular, I loved the way you described Lein speaking the dragon language without actually realizing in. Looking forward to more!

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    Hitai de Bodemloze's Avatar 避世絕俗
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    Default Re: Reforged

    Quote Originally Posted by Caillagh de Bodemloze View Post
    That's a fantastic start!

    I like the idea that Alduin's return should be announced by a herald, and I'm intrigued to find out how Lein will feel about being given the job. I wonder whether she'll have any choice, or whether she'll find she has to tell everyone. And, of course, I wonder whether anyone will believe her story.
    Thanks! It's nice to be back home writing again!

    After having her home destroyed and her eyes burned out, I doubt she's all too keen on the idea of being the dragons' mouthpiece But who knows how intricately these webs are spun.. Believability wise, I neglected to mention (although it will be made clear later) that we're at least a few months deep into the rather fuzzy Skyrim timeline - up to the beginning of Part III of the Main Quest line at any rate. So dragons have been been around for a bit, blowing things up, and the Dragonborn has been off doing his/her thing, so folks are aware that they're back. I like to imagine Lein's purported job is less to tell people, rather redundantly, that the dragons are back, but rather to explain just who they are and why they're so ticked off.

    Quote Originally Posted by Swaeft View Post
    A Skyrim AAR? Count me in!Just don't turn me into one of those frostbite.


    A very intense beginning, nice! And so begins the journey of a determined young girl who will in time, I hope, make the scourge of Karthwasten rue the day he ever let her live. In particular, I loved the way you described Lein speaking the dragon language without actually realizing in. Looking forward to more!
    Cheers Swaeft! It seems you've already unravelled my hopelessly clichéd plot in a matter of minutes I hope there will be some twists and turns yet on the journey to keep people entertained!

    And thank you for your rep comment re: screenshots! I just logged out to double check and my screenshots aren't showing!! I will try and get it fixed~

    Edit: okay, it should be fixed! Top tip, don't set your galleries to private.. Do let me know if there are any other problems with the images
    Last edited by Hitai de Bodemloze; January 28, 2019 at 08:06 PM.

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    Swaeft's Avatar Drama King
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    Default Re: Reforged

    Quote Originally Posted by Hitai de Bodemloze View Post
    Cheers Swaeft! It seems you've already unravelled my hopelessly clichéd plot in a matter of minutes I hope there will be some twists and turns yet on the journey to keep people entertained!

    And thank you for your rep comment re: screenshots! I just logged out to double check and my screenshots aren't showing!! I will try and get it fixed~

    Edit: okay, it should be fixed! Top tip, don't set your galleries to private.. Do let me know if there are any other problems with the images
    Well, I did learn a thing or two from Turkafinwe's spies.

    The screenshots work for me now, and it looks great! I'll be here waiting for the next update.

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    Hitai de Bodemloze's Avatar 避世絕俗
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    Default Re: Reforged

    Chapter Two

    Lein dragged herself over the rocky outcrop, fumbling with her trembling hands to keep purchase on the jagged stone. It was cold to the touch, sending a shiver up her arm as she used it as leverage to hoist herself up. When the surface began to flatten out, she collapsed out of breath, panting as she curled up into a ball atop the rock.



    She didn’t know where she was. She couldn’t stay in the corpse littered town of Karthwasten anymore; once word of the dragon attack got out, bandits and looters would surely descend like carrion to feast off the scraps of her erstwhile friends and neighbours. She didn’t want to think what might happen if such untoward sorts found her; a blind, half-naked, emaciated girl hidden in the ruins, miles away from civilisation. Perhaps she could have bartered herself for food and shelter, but she had more pride than that.

    So she had set off. Solitude seemed like the best destination. People were civilised in Solitude, or so she had heard, and she fancied her chances better there than in some Talos forsaken hellhole like Markarth. Crossing the Karth over to Whiterun wasn’t an option in her state, nor was traversing the mountain border over to High Rock. No, Solitude seemed like the best choice. It might take her days, even weeks, but perhaps there she could eke out a survival on the skirt hems of the wealthy and charitable; who wouldn’t spare a Septim for a poor blind girl? Optimistic, perhaps, but she had few alternatives.

    Discerning north from south, east from west, was impossible – and probably would still have confused her, even were she not now blind –, but she knew Solitude was close to the sea, and that the Karth flowed past it. Logically, she surmised, if she could find the river, she could follow it to the city, simply by checking which direction the water was flowing. It sounded like a good plan, and she was quite proud of herself for thinking it up.

    There was, of course, the rather more immediate problem of actually finding the river itself. Try as she might, she couldn’t hear its currents, not over all the other noise. She had heard people oft remark that they found peace and quiet in the countryside, but now, robbed of her sight, the sound of nature about her seemed overwhelming. The rustle of the tree branches, the whistle of the wind, the rumble of the mountains. She had never known mountains to make a sound before, but they creaked and groaned high above her, as ice thawed and rocks fell from craggy precipice.

    That at least was a welcome sound, inasmuch that it told her where she should not be heading. Her erstwhile home of Karthwasten was nestled between the Karth River and Druadach Mountains, so heading in the opposite direction to those western peaks of Skyrim was the surest way to reach Solitude.

    Unfortunately, it wasn’t as simple as that. Try as she might, navigating blindly through the craggy hills that surrounded Karthwasten, there always seemed to be some cliff too high to climb, or some fallen tree that forced her to take a more circuitous route. It seemed like she was climbing ever higher and higher, as the inhospitable terrain of the Reach conspired to impede her.

    It was slow going as well. She had never been a particularly patient girl, but after one false step and nearly tumbling down a cliff face, she was swiftly learning to take her time. Each step was slow and purposeful, a light touch with the tip of her toes first to make sure it was safe, then finally inching her body forward after it. Her arms ached from forever stretching out ahead of her, trying to feel out what was before her. She had done this from the start, out of necessity and just plain common sense, and she counted it as a small victory that she hadn’t yet walked face first into a tree.

    But she couldn’t take all the time in the world. The Reach was not a safe place – not that anywhere in Skyrim truly was anymore, what with the rampant dragon attacks and the running battles between the Legion and the Stormcloaks rebels. But there were bears and wolves and all manner of wild beasts roving the Reach, not to mention the Forsworn – the erstwhile lords of the province, now ousted and carolled into the hills; prowling on their savage blood-hunts and putting to the sword anyone they might come across. She had heard all manner of tales about these wildlands during her time in Karthwasten; she couldn’t linger here too long.

    Not that she could if she wanted to. She had gone days now without food, and the temperature was dropping again – night was on its way. Starving and shivering, Lein lay on the cold slab of rock, staring sightlessly up at the heavens as it began to rain. Surely the gods were mocking her now.

  9. #9
    Swaeft's Avatar Drama King
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    Default Re: Reforged || Chapter Two, 04.02.19

    A very nice update. I must say I hadn't thought of how difficult it would be for Lein to travel around blind, but this chapter really emphasizes it well, and now I am intrigued to see how she manages to survive like this. If I were a bandit and I heard that a dragon attacked a town, instead of going towards it to obatin some loot that's hopefully not scorched beyond value, I'd actually stay the heck away in case the dragon returned But that's probably why I wouldn't make a good bandit, heh. Great writing and I am certainly going to be a regular follower of this AAR.

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    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: Reforged || Chapter Two, 04.02.19

    A striking beginning! I'm intrigued by the situation of Lein, how she will survive and how she will react to her new role.

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    Hitai de Bodemloze's Avatar 避世絕俗
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    Default Re: Reforged || Chapter Two, 04.02.19

    Quote Originally Posted by Swaeft View Post
    A very nice update. I must say I hadn't thought of how difficult it would be for Lein to travel around blind, but this chapter really emphasizes it well, and now I am intrigued to see how she manages to survive like this. If I were a bandit and I heard that a dragon attacked a town, instead of going towards it to obatin some loot that's hopefully not scorched beyond value, I'd actually stay the heck away in case the dragon returned But that's probably why I wouldn't make a good bandit, heh. Great writing and I am certainly going to be a regular follower of this AAR.
    Cheers buddy! I've never written a blind character before - let alone a blind protagonist! - so these first chapters are definitely a bit of a learning curve for me; I'm glad to hear it reads somewhat authentically! The advice I got from reading the thoughts of blind people/authors was that you should just write a blind character the same way as you would any other, which is a nice way of thinking about it - it's an interesting experience not writing any visual descriptions though.

    I'm enjoying your AAR too! We'll have to pester Cai and get him updating again, then we can get the Skyrim AAR scene back to being as bustling as it used to be!

    Quote Originally Posted by Alwyn View Post
    A striking beginning! I'm intrigued by the situation of Lein, how she will survive and how she will react to her new role.
    Thanks Al! Glad you're enjoying it

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    Swaeft's Avatar Drama King
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    Default Re: Reforged || Chapter Two, 04.02.19

    Quote Originally Posted by Hitai de Bodemloze View Post
    Cheers buddy! I've never written a blind character before - let alone a blind protagonist! - so these first chapters are definitely a bit of a learning curve for me; I'm glad to hear it reads somewhat authentically! The advice I got from reading the thoughts of blind people/authors was that you should just write a blind character the same way as you would any other, which is a nice way of thinking about it - it's an interesting experience not writing any visual descriptions though.
    That's interesting to know, and worthy of even more praise - it certainly doesn't read like it's your first time.

    Quote Originally Posted by Hitai de Bodemloze View Post
    I'm enjoying your AAR too! We'll have to pester Cai and get him updating again, then we can get the Skyrim AAR scene back to being as bustling as it used to be!
    Oh that would be excellent. Good times. You hear that, Caillagh?

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    Turkafinwë's Avatar The Sick Baby Jester
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    Default Re: Reforged

    Two wonderful chapters to begin with! I too believe that you're doing an excellent job portraying a blind character, you wouldn't say you've never done it before, it all sounds very natural. I like this dragon of Karthwasten with his dark sense of humour and hope we'll see him appear again. I too am very interested where the story of Lein will lead us to!

    Quote Originally Posted by Swaeft View Post
    Well, I did learn a thing or two from Turkafinwe's spies.
    Remember, we will be watching

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    Hitai de Bodemloze's Avatar 避世絕俗
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    Default Re: Reforged || Chapter Three, 11.02.19

    Chapter Three

    The night had passed, but Lein felt none the better. She had been unable to find any shelter, instead sleeping between the overgrown roots of a mountainside tree. It had been cold and uncomfortable, and the sounds of the wild – as well as the insects crawling about beneath her – kept jolting her awake in anxiety. She had spent the night drifting in and out of sleep, the ragged remains of her clothes affording her no respite from the icy northern winds.

    But above all, she was hungry. Water was easy enough to come by; tributary streams ran down from the mountains and funnelled into the great Karth River below. She had been fortunate to come across a couple of these meandering brooks in the past few days, and even when such springs had eluded her, she had still been able to at least cup the waters of sporadic rainfalls in her hands. But food was another matter entirely. In Karthwasten she had lived off the good graces of the locals, sleeping in the attic of the village hall and doing odd jobs and chores about the town. For her services, she was permitted to stay with them and afforded a bowl of stew every night to warm her stomach.

    But here, out in the wild? How was she supposed to eat? She couldn’t catch and hunt anything, and even if she could, how would she cook it? There were no fruits or vegetables or crops to pick from up in the barren hills, she knew that from her journeys up there before the attack. Wild mushrooms perhaps; they were what she was hoping to find, diligently checking the foot of every tree trunk she came across, but in the end to no avail.

    It was getting harder and harder to move forward. It was physically and mentally taxing, trying to navigate the world in total darkness, but her hunger made it all the worse, sapping the energy from her limbs. In the first few days, it had been a regular hunger that one might feel; the rumble in the stomach and the saliva building up in the mouth. But it had passed that now for Lein; now it was a sickness. She felt nauseous and ill, as if her stomach had been drained and hollowed out, leaving only an emptiness that burned up inside her like an infernal abyss.

    She stumbled to a stop and slumped down beside a tree. She let out a sigh and placed a limp hand over her belly, as if half-heartedly consoling a troubled pet. The motion had given her some small measure of comfort before, but now such a cheap trick was no longer enough to fool her. She needed to eat.

    Fish perhaps, she thought to herself idly, her mind racing away at the very thought of a nice smoked salmon. Fish could still be eaten raw though, couldn’t they? She didn’t know and, quite frankly, at this point she didn’t really care. If she could find another one of those streams, she could try and catch one. Yet the only such waterways she had come across had been little more than shallow gullies, not even deep enough to submerge one of her arms. Enough to drink from, but not deep enough for any fish.

    No, she needed to get to the Karth. She let her shoulders slump, her head dropping back to rest on the bark of the tree. She was hopelessly lost. She couldn’t even smell the smoke from Karthwasten anymore, so far had she travelled. The air seemed to be getting thinner as well, the wind whistling a little higher in her ears – she was definitely heading in the wrong direction. What was she to do?

    She listened to the shrill sound of the mountain wind as it passed above her, rustling the leaves of the tree she sat beneath. Lein let the sound of it wash over her, letting her body succumb to sheer exhaustion. She heard the gentle oaken creek of the trunk, the faint rip and tear of leaves falling from their branches, the twang of the branches themselves as they swayed to and fro in the breeze, the snarl of the wolf, the almost imperceptible buzz of a cicada in the…

    The snarl of the wolf? Lein was on her feet in an instant, a sudden rush of adrenaline already coursing through her veins. It was a wolf. She had heard a wolf. There was a wolf coming. These simple yet horrifying thoughts raced through her mind as she felt energy she didn’t know she had left surge back through her broken body. She stood deathly still, body lowered in a crouch, ready to react. Another snarl rippled through the air; closer now, and behind her. She tilted her head, just an inch, as to hear more clearly over the wind. The snarling intensified and she heard the slow patter patter of paws scraping over rock.

    Ordinarily – that was to say, back when she had her sight and some semblance of a normal life –, she would never have dreamed of fighting a wolf, and even now a part of her brain was screaming at her to run, that to stay there was suicide. But that was only a very small voice, which was drowned out by her overwhelming hunger. She could kill a wolf, she told herself, flexing muscles she knew she didn’t really have. She could kill a wolf. And then she could eat it. Yes, no problem. How hard could it be? She had seen the miners of Karthwasten, old Ainethach and Ragnar, break the necks of wolves before, after the beasts had ventured too close to the town. Simply get behind it, wrap your arms around its head, and snap its neck. Easy.

    Then she heard another snarl join the first, and another set of paws hit the ground in accompaniment. Ah, two wolves. No, she definitely couldn’t do this. The cold, hard, rational part of her brain won out, and Lein felt the terror finally hit her; the wet canine growls of the deadly predators slowly enveloping her, as the sound of sharp, gnashing, flesh-eating teeth cut deep into her very soul. She couldn’t help but scream as she started to run...

    Last edited by Hitai de Bodemloze; February 11, 2019 at 10:10 AM.

  15. #15
    Hitai de Bodemloze's Avatar 避世絕俗
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    Default Re: Reforged

    Quote Originally Posted by Turkafinwë View Post
    Two wonderful chapters to begin with! I too believe that you're doing an excellent job portraying a blind character, you wouldn't say you've never done it before, it all sounds very natural. I like this dragon of Karthwasten with his dark sense of humour and hope we'll see him appear again. I too am very interested where the story of Lein will lead us to!
    Thank you!! I'm sure we'll see Mr Dragon again, but who knows just when and where he will pop up

    ---

    I have some affairs to attend to this weekend, so next Monday's update might be a little delayed - hopefully I'll be able to get it posted on time though~

  16. #16
    Swaeft's Avatar Drama King
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    Default Re: Reforged || Chapter Three, 11.02.19

    Great update! And here I thought fighting wolves in Skyrim was easy, in fact I often hoped to encounter them along the roads to get their pelts. Here it is an entirely different story. May I hazard a guess that she might escape them by jumping into the river? I'm also anxious to see how she will sustain herself with regards to basic necessities - she can't keep running clothed like that forever, and she needs to eat and drink regularly. Keep it up

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    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: Reforged || Chapter Three, 11.02.19

    It looks like Lein will be lucky to survive. Maybe she has some resource she doesn't realise she has (it seems unlikely to be a physical resource like a weapon), or perhaps someone (or something) will intervene? (I wonder if there's any significance in the air getting thinner, has she climbed up towards some place that might be a refuge?)

  18. #18
    Turkafinwë's Avatar The Sick Baby Jester
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    Default Re: Reforged || Chapter Three, 11.02.19

    Those must be some fearsome and strong mineworkers Lein knew if they can twist a wolf's neck until it breaks. Brave as well.

    When reading this I really felt the anxiety and fear starting to grip me until it exploded into panic when the wolves showed up. I really liked how you portrayed how desperation can affect the thinking process of someone; a starving physically weaker individual whose sane side would never think twice of fighting a dangerous animal convinces itself that it can take on the wolf. Really remarkable what the human brain is capable of. Some excellent writing right there!

  19. #19
    Swaeft's Avatar Drama King
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    Default Re: Reforged || Chapter Three, 11.02.19

    Hitai! Wherest art thou? Just wanted to say that having two Skyrim AARs running at the same time brought me back to the good times when it was me and Chirurgeon updating Skyrim AARs as well (and damn, look how well the game has aged), and I hope we can keep this going

    Yes, wherest is not a wordst

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