Friday, November 11, 2011

The Beginning

Dear Diary,

Am I happy to finally have a chance to write to you.  What a long week it has been.  

My decision to leave Cyrodiil, while curing my boredom, proved to be a dangerous endeavor.  I ran into some folks in blue outfits calling themselves the Stormguard...or Stormcloaks...it's all quite hazy.  But in my mingling and buying supplies for my trek deeper into Skyrim, we were attacked by some Imperial soldiers.  I tried to explain I had no idea who these random people were, but I was captured and bound, thrown into a cart and hauled off to some city...which I can't even remember the name of because as soon as we got there the city was promptly destroyed by some dragon.

Did I mention they wanted to kill me?  How rude.  I didn't have anything to do with those guys, and they seemed pretty nice at that.

But anyway.  The dragon set upon the town and given a choice I decided to run off with the guy in blue since he wasn't trying to kill me a few minutes earlier.  After dodging a lot of falling stuff and getting my hair fried by dragon breath, we made our way out.  To be honest it all happened so fast and I was in such shock I don't really remember how, but I ended up in a small town in a valley on the other side of the mountain.  They were very nice and gave me some food and drink.

Riverwood.  I just remembered the name.

After parting with the charming gentleman in blue I headed to see the Jarl of Whiterun as I was instructed.  I saw a giant, nothing like you would see in the southern lands, set upon by some folks in leather armor.  I ran to help (and who I was helping I wasn't sure) but the giant fell dead as I raised my weapon.  I tried to recover my wits and make some small talk, but other than mentioning they were some wandering guard sort of folk they didn't want much to do with me.  I thought to ask to join them but they didn't look much fun.  Wandering and clobbering innocent giants doesn't fit with my plan I brought with me into Skyrim - look but don't interfere.

So I went up the hill into Whiterun.  Being a lady of education I knew that Whiterun was the original city of the Empire, back when it was founded in Skyrim, and it was beyond what I had imagined from reading about it.  Architecture I had never seen before, and it was as tall as some mountains in Cyrodiil.

Upon conversing a bit with the Jarl we are informed a nearby tower is set upon by a dragon.  I didn't really want to have anything to do with a dragon, but I thought if I just tagged along it would be bonus points with the Jarl and maybe give me a place to stay for the evening.  Following a band of Whiterun guards and a Dunmer who appeared to be an adviser of war for the Jarl.  We ran to the tower (myself a few steps behind) when the dragon appeared.  The men fought valiantly but were slowly losing to the huge monster, and I was getting a bit impatient.  I decided to be a bit risky and fire a few arrows into the dragon, which struck it's wings and grounded it momentarily.  The guards were tossed around like mudcrabs in a riptide, so I ran up and sprayed some fire at it.  Apparantly this was incredibly effective and the dragon burned until it finally collapsed in the dirt.  I walked a bit closer to admire the beat when it began to disappear! It's body dissolved and something like fire magic grew from the dragon and came rushing to me.  It happened so fast I had no idea what to do as it seemed I was absorbing this magic.  As soon as it started it was over, and the men stood around awestruck.  They called me something I had not heard of since my time in the Imperial Library, a Dragonborn.  I had a vague idea what they were talking about, but I didn't believe such things really existed, but were a legend.  Immediately after there was a crashing in the sky and a loud voice.  Following behind the loud thunder was a gathering of many voices shouting "dragonborn."  All went quiet again, and after gathering our wits we walked back to Whiterun.

Long story short I am some Dragonborn person although I don't really believe it.  The Jarl told me to go to some place at the "Throat of the World," which of course is the huge mountain I saw as I came into Riverwood.  Tallest in Tamriel, this wasn't going to be easy.

I wasn't sure if I was not only up to it but believed in all of this.  I decided since the Jarl wasn't going to hand over any fancy rewards I might as well go see if the "greybeards" had anything worth offering.  I really had no idea where I was so some direction was nice, and I admit I was interested in learning more about the dragons from a person rather than a book.

Climbing the 7000 steps wasn't easy, but after dropping a few wolves, and sneaking past a nasty looking troll that was very clearly out of my league, I ended the impressive gates of High Hrothgar.  I stayed for two days and learned much from the monks.  Apparently this "dragonborn" thing is real and not a legend, and there are quite a few of them in history.  They teach me some words of the dragons that are quite powerful, and set me on a quest to find a relic that will explain why the dragons are returning and I was called into Skyrim as they say.

So I stop here beneath Whiterun to draw you a quick picture of the Throat of the World.  It's getting late and I think I will wait until tomorrow to go any further.  It took long enough to get down off the mountain.

I hope all of this makes sense.  To be honest my mind is still back in the little town the dragon destroyed, and wondering how my friend in blue is doing.

Until next time.

- S.T.

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