Whiterun
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| The first view of Whiterun |
The walk to Whiterun gave me quite some
time to think about the recent events. There I was: free again, just
escaped from death and with the vague idea that I couldn't go on
living as I was living before. It was time to make use of my talents
and to stop wasting them. I began to pick the flowers and collect the
mushrooms I found on the roadside, tasting and analysing them to
learn their properties: I wanted to learn alchemy.
As the road lead me up through the
mountains I got attacked by a pack of wolves. Again I wasn't wearing
a weapon. Not even a single piece of armour to protect me, nor a
shield to bash with. Instead I relied on my fire spell again and
burned them to death.
It might sound like a trivial thing for
me to have killed several legion soldiers and wild beasts, but
believe me. It wasn't. It was not easy for me at all, but a
necessity. I wouldn't be able to tell you about my adventures now if
I hadn't defended myself.
You have to know that I don't start a
fight unless it is inevitable and I don't wish death to anyone. But I
want to get out of things alive and if I have to make use of my magic
powers for this, so it has to be.
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| Before the Jarl |
When arriving Whiterun I got already a
nice collection of herbs and mushrooms together. Even some of these
strange, glowing Nirnroots which grow at the shores of the White
River, where Whiterun has got its name from. I could barely wait to
experiment with them, but my first way lead me up to Baalgruf's
palace towering over the city.
I never was at a place like this and
the sheer size of the throne room made me silencing my steps and
quietly walk towards the Jarl. I barely made it past the steps as his
bodyguard, a fierce-looking dark elven woman approached me with her
blade drawn. Blocking the way. Eventually I was allowed to approach
the Jarl because of the news I had about Helgen.
I somehow must have impressed the Jarl
because just as I finished my report he took me to his court mage who
asked me to find an ancient artifact for him. The so-called
dragonstone. A runestone with the locations of all dragon tombs
known. He told me I could find it somewhere in the ruin of Bleak
Falls Barrow. I didn't felt quite ready for such a task, but accepted
anyway.
I also bought a few spells from him,
even if I was not sure if I would be actually able to cast them.
As a thank-you for my efforts in
warning him of the dragon he also gave me a steel armor. I'm sure he
found such piece very fitting for me. He must have taken me for an
adventurer.
After my stay at the Jarl's Palace I
decided to turn the things I had no use for into gold (byebye
armour!) and then having a try in making some potions. The local
alchemist, Arcadia, was very nice and allowed me to use her
alchemy-lab. The mixing went pretty nice as I didn't blow myself up
and I made my first potions, which were actually good enough to sell
them to her!
It was already evening when I left the
alchemy shop. So I went for a bed to the local Inn. The owner gladly
accepted my offer to play to the guests for a stay overnight. I am
pretty skilled in playing instruments and singing (one of the talents
I brought from my former life) and after a few songs crowd and
propriertress were pleased and I did fall into bed like a stone.
The next day was lovely warm and sunny.
I think the weather there is usually rather mild for Skyrim. While
strolling through the city and linking up with people, I wondered how
it would be to settle roots there one day - once I have the resources
and made myself a name as mage. It became to me more and more clear
that this is the path I want to go: I wanted to become a mage. I
asked around a bit and learned eventually about the Mages College in
Winterhold, far in the north-east of Skyrim. I knew instantly this is
the place I had to visit.
I also did chat with a friendly girl of
about my age with the name Ysolda. She wanted to establish herself as
merchant in the city and in order to impress the Kajiit traders, who
roam through the land, she told me she needed a mammoth tusk. That's
a pretty unusual gift if you ask me, but I agreed to get her one.
After all she offered me to show me some haggling tricks in exchange.
Something I could really use to get a foot on the ground financially.
I also learned about an ongoing
conflict inside the city. Two clans, the Greymanes and the
Battlebornes are at a feud with each other. One side, the Greymanes
are supporting Ulfric, the other clan did side with the Empire. You
could almost forget there was a war going on outside when you are in
that beautiful and peaceful city. But soon enough it seems, something
just has to remind you of the ongoing chaos and violence throughout
the land.
The rest of the day I spent with
wandering around the walled city, looking for herbs to collect and
deer to try my newly learned spells at: Because one of the spells was
a pretty powerful firebolt.
It went pretty nicely until I came to a
recess in the rocks just west of Whiterun. Suddenly bandits did swarm
towards me and shooting with arrows! I didn't expect to find an
opportunity to test my newly learned combat skills so soon
(especially since they weren't really worth to mention at all), but I
had to defend my very life. So I started running and dodging their
attacks while keeping on sending firebolt after firebolt at them.
Luckily I had already a good stock of potions which helped me
restoring my magical powers which would have been exhausted pretty
quickly otherwise.
I knew if I made it to the city guards
I would have been safe but I was pretty far away from the gate still
and the landscape was rough, making running in a straight path
impossible.
I was very lucky indeed that day.
Somehow I managed it to take them down one after the other. My
running away caused them to spread so thin that they couldn't give
each other assistance. I think that saved my life that day.
Upon returning to their hideout I
served myself on their supplies before returning to the safety of the
city of Whiterun. I knew the next day would see me leaving for the
Mages College in Winterhold. So I had to be well rested and my stock
of potions restored.
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