I post too much. I know. So has anyone seen a headless horseman? I was on foot and couldn't keep up with him to see where he went.
So many good memories.... Ok, so this is all your fault you guys, not mine . I have been playing with this story for quite some time now and initially planned to use it in a Skyrim review. That review never happened, the story is still inside my head and right now I can't think of a better place to write it down than here. This story needs to finally come out, but I never imagined that I'd do so on a Minecraft forum One warning though: the story of the werewolf does contain some (slight) violent scenes. I made sure not to make it too grotesque but because emotions and instinct play a big part in the storyline its not something I could keep out completely either. Am I running away from my responsibilities? Well, maybe I am, I don't know anymore. Thing is; as much as I respect these Greybeards, and I really do, I just don't feel comfortable right now with performing some petty errand tasks for them, as if I'm their messenger boy. Maybe I'm just too arrogant for my own good. Or maybe... Nah, Hircine will guide me. I look over my shoulder and see Aranea catching up to me. Ha, talk about being an errand boy Even so, securing the star of Azura - even with the errand tasks - was one of those very rewarding efforts indeed. And led up to me meeting a great friend and companion. We don't talk much, but I still have this feeling that we know and understand each other a lot more than it seems. If I were a dark elf... Nah, enough of that. Clear your mind Dragonborn We stop by what looks like a tower of some sort. Probably one of those buildings which also has a large underground structure. And where there's underground dungeons there's usually some fair loot to find. At the very least some well needed ingredients for my potions. We go in and Aranea quickly grabs a torch and scouts ahead a bit. Hmm, I can almost smell the presence of some people here. Ha, or maybe my experience is finally catching up with me. "That's strange", I mumble: "This door is locked, but that makes no sense...". There can't be any storage here, the room is much too small. So... I quickly sit on my knees, grab my lockpicks and go to work. Hmm. Almost as if its locked from.... There we go! "No, please don't hurt me. I surrender!", a voice cries out. What the heck? "Calm down, no one is going to hurt you. Relax, what happened?", I ask. The man, who looks like a farmer to me, tells me of how he met the love of his life and they had lived together for quite some time. Until that dreaded day when she didn't come back home. Months has he searched for her, in vain, but eventually came across a trail which led him here to this tower: "I am convinced that she must be here. This is where they bring their prisoners before selling them on the black market in Riften". Slavers... My stomach rumbles, my muscles contract a little and I listen to the man with a sense of repulsion and disgust. Look, things are not perfect here in Skyrim and I can actually understand and respect that some people will turn to "other" activities to make a living. Out in the wild its survival of the fittest (or the sly ). Stay on the paths and you'll usually be safe. Each to his own. But if there's one profession I have zero tolerance nor respect for its slave drivers. That's not a profession, its a cowards job. Praying on the weak, and of course only in larger numbers. Despicable, disgusting degenerates, that's what those scum of the wild are. "Grrrrr", I rumble. Its out before I realize it. The man now looks at me with a startled expression on his face, not knowing if he should run off or stay. "We'll rescue your wife good sir, you have my word on that. Please stay here, for your own safety..", I tell him and he nods at me in a seemingly panicked way. Have I become that transparent? I sure hope not... Sometimes I question myself you know. Ever since my "turning", as I call it, I constantly feel the blood of the wolf inside me. And I love every part of it. When my stay on Skyrim is over then I shall join the hunting pack of Hircine and obey his every command. We shall hunt for eternity, in our true forms. But for the here and now there's scum like these slavers which shall serve my hunger for blood quite well. Does that make me a bad man? I don't know... "The twilight watches us all Guardian...", Aranea tells me. I smile and nod at her. Its for a well known reason why I really enjoy her companionship and consider her a dear friend. She knows me so well, and her words of wisdom are always comforting and inspiring. Soothing even... "It's time for the hunt", I tell her. She nods and answers: "Go on ahead, I'll stand guard..". After making sure that the door has been closed behind us, so that this poor farmer won't know what happens here, I stroke my ring and pray to Hircine to grant me her powers. As always she has no problem with bestowing the might of the beast upon me and I quickly feel a rage slowly rising within. My stomach begins to ache, my muscles contract and flex, the pain becomes extremely heavy and at one point it feels as if my chest is about to explode. I fall down to my hand and knees, attempting to grasp my chest in order to prevent it from bursting. And just when I make a grabbing gesture do I feel my legs breaking, my back splitting in two and an unspeakable sensation takes over. And, as always, before I hit the ground my transformation is complete. And then it happens... That one second where I lose complete control over my senses. The one moment when the wolf takes over completely, the moment which scares me every time I live it. "RRRROOAAAARRRRR", I let out an enraging howl, almost as a fair warning to the enemies that are ahead of me. For the hunt has begun.... I look at Aranea who has now become a lot smaller than me. I nod once and then sniff out the air. Yes, there are others there, I can almost taste them.. I go down on all fours and run into the structure. In a flash I see two people, a man and a woman, lying on the ground, asleep. At this point I no longer care who or what you are, all which lies before me is prey. And I shall be its hunter. As always I go for the throat; the easiest way. It doesn't take long and after the kill I quickly feast on the bodies. I feel fluids dripping from my jaw, but it only adds to my anxiety. More, I shall have more prey. I let out a roar once again and quickly continue my search. I run past rooms which I don't even bother to look into, my instincts tell me that they're empty. A long corridor shows up in front of me, within moments I passed it and see a circular staircase going upwards. Ok then, up we go The time for being cautious is not here. These cowardly scums shall get what they so rightfully deserve: my fangs around their throat. I run up and quickly reach another chamber, smaller than the one below but large enough to run around in. Which is just my luck because now I finally encounter some well needed resistance: "Watch out!", people yell. Yeah right... I run up to the first and with one stroke of my claws I rip him wide open. One enemy down... A small sting in my shoulder warns me of the other; who actually had the audacity to shoot an arrow at me. I stand up on my legs and slowly walk towards him. The man panics, drops his bow and quickly grabs his sword while backing up to the wall... A wall where a helpless victim can be seen, someone who, judging by the wounds, was obviously being tortured. The sight only enrages me further.. They like torture, eh? "No, stay back!", the man cries out and even hits me with the sword. I look at him, enraged, and without even thinking about it I sink my claws into his chest and start ripping away. It doesn't take long before the life flows out of his body, another trophy for the Deadra... At this point my fur is stained and sticky, and it must be one horrendous sight indeed. The room stinks of blood, and so do I. It influences me, tempts me, the hunger.. The urge to feed some more rises within me, but I remain in control and ignore it for now. Would I have hunted for the night then I'd feast on every victim, but right now I also need to keep the farmer and his wife in mind. I don't think they'd appreciate a werewolf showing up It pains me, the temptation rises with every second, but I pull away and slowly walk off. Up we go again... Midway the stairs I stop, turn my head backwards. One bite wouldn't hurt, would it? I growl, yank my head back and start running upwards again. Not now... I can resist, I am stronger than this. I know it. I have to be... When I almost reached the top I hear noises from below. It sounds like magical spells... Most likely some of the bandits managed to sneak past me, and boy what a surprise they'll have when they meet Aranae. Don't ever be fooled by her slender appearance, because she can take you out even if you are a gigantic warrior of some sort. LOL, I did it again. My message is too long. Ok, apologies but.. Part II coming right up.
The hunt is almost over... I run past a few more rooms and eventually conclude that the rest of the tower is empty. Next stop: ladder. And just my luck: the kind of ladder I can't climb as a wolf. No matter, I slowly walk downwards and search through some of the rooms for loot. I can't exactly pick anything up right now, but it will still save me some time after I changed back. A few moments later I feel a dizziness taking over. The room spins, I start feeling weaker and weaker and before I realize what's going on I find myself lying naked on the floor. Hmm, better cover up a bit. I slip on my clothes and continue my way up into the last part of the tower. I quickly meet up with the leader of the bandits who actually happens to be none other than the farmers wife! She tells me how his love and compassion became a burden to her, it smothered her and in the end she saw no other way out than to leave him. While I can understand her problem I cannot forgive her for setting up a slave trading group, nor do I condone the pain she made her husband go through. But to attack and kill a nearly defenseless woman? We walk down while she offers me a reward if I tell her husband that she has been killed. A tempting offer for sure. We come across the room in which I slaughtered her entire band of guards and when she sees the remains she cries out in a rage: "What the h* did you do, you... you....", and before I realize what is going on she has grabbed a knife and comes right at me. Very well then... A few moments later I stand over her dead body. Her dead empty body even, because her soul has been extracted through the magic of the Mace of Molag Bal. The hunt is now finally over. After checking all of the chests for loot I slowly make my way down and meet up with Aranae. The bodies in the room tell me enough, as expected she dealt with the rest of the riffraff. "Loot?", I ask her. In answer the just looks at me, obviously not caring either way. Ok, then. I quickly search the bodies, grab the gold coins they have and share them evenly with Aranae. Now for the hard part... I decide that the farmer doesn't need to know the truth. "I'm sorry", I tell him: "but your wife didn't make it. She was brave, she fought valiantly for everything she believed in but in the end she was still outmatched. If it is any comfort to you: I'm sure she didn't suffer. Here, I think she wanted you to have this", and without thinking I hand him all of my findings. Meh, what do I care anyhow... My chests in Whiterun are stuffed with gold. Provided of course that Lydia hasn't spent all of it on clothing I bid the farmer goodbye, take one last look backwards and then Aranae and me decide to move on. Where to go next? I don't know, wherever Hircine will guide me I suppose.... This was FUN. I hope you guys have as much fun reading as I had writing this. SO many good memories came out when writing this. (Edit): Some people asked me what the story was all about. Well, this is actually based on an encounter which can really happen in the game. I basically spiced it up a little while still describing the way I played through it myself (most of it, I did change some parts while writing). During my first run of Skyrim I really enjoyed being a werewolf and used the feature every chance I got, thanks to the ring of Hircine. And that led up to situations as the one above.
I can't wait to play again. I haven't touched the game properly since Saturday. I should hopefully be able to play again properly tomorrow if I finish what I need to do today...
I've been away from my computer since the 23 Nov and will not get back to it till the middle of Jan 2015. Using my wife's' lap top to get on the server to and forums. So it will be awhile till I play it.
You poor deprived soul. I weep for your loss. ;_; Y'know, I'd honestly forgotten what Breezehome looks like without the upgrade mod. I regret nothing.
I think I finally went through the whole thread and I noticed that there are still some people who never heard of Skyrim. Since I'm someone who doesn't really follow all the news around computer games I can relate to that. SO I figured how about a blast from the past; the original trailer? I don't know you guys; this trailer is almost 4 years old and it still manages to send chills down my spine whenever I (occasionally) watch it: (edit) Seems to be an issue with videos, so I'm referring to this youtube video. I especially like the fact that they didn't really overdo things. Whatever you see happening during those gameplay sections is actually real; monsters make those sounds, you can do those things in game, and so on. Truly a classic if you ask me.
Well that's your opinion, anyway. I thought it was a massive disappointment. Can we stick to TESV please? I'd rather not see this thread sidetracked by Zenimax's little cash-grab.
Just, y'know, preachin' the word of Talos on a rainy day. Aethres, because I haven't shown him off in a while. I . . . I don't even know, man.
