13th of Frostfall, 4E 201
I arrived in Whiterun early this morning, so I rented a room at the Bannered Mare to rest up for a few hours. When the rest of the city was awake I went downstairs to eat a breakfast and say hello to Uthgerd, then I went out in search of work. Hulda hadn't any contracts from the Jarl, so I spoke with a number of residents. Unfortunately, none of them wanted any help beyond chopping wood or smithing a dagger.
So Serana and I set out down the road for Falkreath. We followed the base of the mountain, then went south along the road by the lake. We followed the road until I reached a mill and was able to find our location on my map. From the mill we ventured southwest, and after an hour or two of trekking, we reached the settlement. I walked into the Jarl's Longhouse and was immediately greeted by an unfamiliar face. She was a Redguard like me, and pretty at that, with a set of Nordic steel armor, as well as a hood like the Alik'r Warriors wear, and a scimitar that reminded me of the one my father carried. He always said its curves made it a more graceful and deadly weapon.
She said she was Rayya, my new housecarl. I could tell by her slight accent she was a native of Hammerfell, and I began looking forward to having a companion from my homeland. I asked what a housecarl does, and she said she is to be the guardian of myself and my belongings, because of my title of Thane. I decided that since I had put aside the vampires in Forbears' Holdout for the time being, Serana could return to Fort Dawnguard and I would travel with Rayya for now. I also spoke with Nenya, the steward, about the land for sale. She said it was undeveloped, well-watered, and had a great view. I asked the price, and she said she could take 5000 Septims. I was running low on coin anyways, so I had to decline. Hopefully the property isn't bought by the time I have 5000 Septims. And I knew that a prime piece of land like that could sell quickly.
So Rayya and I out to sell some equipment I had found and then look for work. I visited the blacksmith, and he asked me if I had seen a dog outside of town on the road. I had not, so the man asked if I could maybe attract it with some meat so he could catch it for a pet. He offered a few hundred gold, so I accepted his task.
No more than 200 yards out of Falkreath did I find the dog. I ran up to it, and to my surprise... It spoke.
The strange hound said his name was Barbas, and he needed my help. I was astonished, and it took me a moment to get past the 'talking dog' aspect and onto Barbas's need. I said I was busy, which is true, but the dog offered a sarcastic retort and a location to meet him: Haemar's Shame. I needed a drink after that experience, but I kept the location in mind.
So I sat in the Dead Man's Drink, mulling over the proposition. On the one hand, the possibility of, well, whatever a talking dog can offer for my help; on the other, the possibility of what a talking dog might need help with. I needed whatever coin might be in the job badly, so after dinner we set out down the road.
As we walked, I saw spears of ice shooting up and over a wooden bridge spanning the road. I ran to see what the commotion was, but as it happened, it was only Serana fighting a frostbite spider. However, I had failed to notice the two bandits standing on either side of the wooden bridge. Luckily, they posed no real threat, as they had only wooden bows and were shirtless in their fur armor.
Further along the road, we came to Helgen. This time, I had the chance to take in the destruction, but only for a moment, because I saw three bandits coming up on us. The brigands were light fare, but soon we detected more. Rayya went to fight a couple of bandits over one of the walls, and I continued toward the place where the Stormcloaks held their counter-attack.No sooner than I found the spot did a couple of bandits with large two-handed weapons charge me, followed by a mage. I fought as hard as I could, but the sheer numbers overwhelmed me. I quickly thought to duck inside the keep. Near death, I managed to use my adrenaline rush ability to muster the stamina to sprint to the big, thick door, pull it open, and then wedge it closed. I was safe, but I had lost track of Rayya in battle, and she hadn't seen me enter. But if I went back out there, I would surely be blasted and torn to pieces. I would have to find another way out.
Inside the fort, I fought my way through a few weak bandits, until I came to a underground stream, skirted by stone walls. There were three bandits visible on the other side of the cavern, and a chest in the middle. I decided to go for the chest. I downed a potion of invisibility and inched my way to a pillar no more than five feet away from the chest. I could almost feel the latch on the lid... And then the bandits saw as the potion wore off. They all swarmed me at once, their blades like a flurry of angry bees. I blocked, and sliced, and blocked, but they were too much. So I ran back to the room I was in when I entered to regain my strength. A couple of hours later, I was ready to return. I came this time with a plan. I would kill one of the bandits with a poisoned arrow from across the room, then I would set to work on only one of the bandits, keeping the other back and at bay. This is not how it all happened, I'm afraid.
My poisoned arrow sailed just above the bandit it was trained on, alerting her to my presence. I saw the three fiends draw their weapons and begin to walk towards me, so I sent another arrow sailing toward the bandit, and I hit her in the stomach, which did slow her down. I pulled my sword from its sheath and threw my shiel up to meet the mace of a bandit. I bashed the villains back and moved to the other side of the room, nearing the exit. The bandit I had shot had fallen dead by now, and two more remained. My health was dwindling so I jumped down to the chest by the stream, threw it open, and pulled out a coin purse as I ran for my life out the exit, leaving the bandits behind.
Through the tunnel from the chamber with the chest in the middle, I came out into a large cavern, covered in cobwebs. In the center was Rayya, battling about six frostbite spiders! She had fought valiantly before I entered, as two spiders lay dead to the side of the skirmish, but she dropped to a knee as the swarm of oversized arachnids it at her. I knew she was in trouble, so I rushed in and threw two of the spiders off her, slashing at the bunch and helping Rayya to regain her footing. Soon the spiders were dead, and we were on our way down the road to Riverwood through the frigid rain and night air. Both Rayya and I were exhausted and soaking, and I tried to distract us from that by talking about home. I asked about where she grew up in Hammerfell, what she knew of the current politics, memories, anything to return to the warm night breeze off the Illiac Bay in Sentinel. I spoke of Rayya's scimitar, how my father's similar blade from his childhood was given to him by my grandfather. By the time we were inside the Sleeping Giant Inn, we were no longer in Skyrim, but back in the warmth of Hammerfell.
