 |
| "Guuu-uuuys, wait uuup!" |
With some trepidation, I walk
down to the main gates of Whiterun, where Irileth is delivering a rousing
speech to the assembled town guard. And
while it does a little to steady my nerves, I am very much aware that the
largest enemy I’ve faced so far is an overfed arachnid. I'm glad I
bumped up my healing prowess. The
Whiterun guards march out boldly and I tag along behind on Allie, “protecting
the rear of the column”.
 |
| ...ooohhhh shit... |
We eventually
reach a shattered and burning watchtower with charred corpses littering the
grounds. Before I can excuse myself and
go and take on some puny bandits instead, there it is, swooping malevolently
down from the mountains. And it's not
just any dragon. It's a named
dragon: Mirmulnir. Any bad guy that gets its own
name is Bad News. I dismount Allie (who
wisely hightails it into the other direction), and the guards, a passing
Khajiit caravan and I begin to alternately shoot, stab, swear at, and sear the
scaly serpent with lightning.
 |
| Pyppi, meet Mirmulnir; Mirmulnir, Pyppi. |
I have to tactically retreat (flee, frantically healing as I run),
several times, but eventually the jumped-up salamander does a spectacular
forward roll and collapses. Hooray! And what's this? Rainbow wind rushes out of the former
firebreather into me as it crumbles into a skeleton. One of the guards approaches and claims I'm
some kind of special gal – a Dragonborn – and tells me to shout at him. Never one to judge someone for how they get
their rocks off, I yell square in his face, which seems to please him. Irileth is less chirpy, but I suspect this is
because she's one of those weird honourable-death-seeking types. My killing Mirmulnir before he killed her seems
to have bummed her out.
I eventually track down Allie, who was off making friends with some
moose (Mooses. Meece?) and canter back
to Whiterun before the guards, hoping to claim most of the credit. As I near the city an ominous peal of thunder
heralds my approach. I could get used to
that as an entrance theme. Two Alik'r warriors intercept me as I enter the gate, requesting my aid in finding
one of their fellow Redguard citizens.
Before they are kicked out by the town guards, they tell me they’re setting
off for a village nearby where I can reach them with news of my search.
Jarl Balgruuf in Dragonsreach says he can always count on Irileth, but
before I can meaningfully clear my throat, he gives me his axe (enchanted, but
useless for me) and names me Thane of Whiterun, with my own personal housecarl
called Lydia. I don't have the heart to
tell him I don't intend to stay on in Whiterun. Nothing hugely wrong with it, it just doesn't
feel like my kind of scene. He has even
offered me a residence here, but again, I'm not overly keen to tie myself to
this bicker-filled town.
 |
| Lydia: my sister from another mister |
Of course I
will still pop by to visit Farengar. I
go and talk with him now to tell him about my dragon-slaying exploits, but he
doesn't seem overly interested. I reckon
he's more a scholar than a warrior. Must
remember this for future conversations with him. I do buy hella spell tomes from him though
(mainly apprentice-level versions of my Destruction magic), which I plan to
start testing out immediately. He also
asks me to run an errand for him to deliver some frost salts to the alchemist
in town, which I will gladly do if it means I get closer to bosom-buddy-hood with him.
I am told by one of the Jarl’s bodyguards that the thunderous roar I
heard as I entered the gates was me being summoned by the Greybeards, a
mysterious coven who live in High Hrothgar at the top of the Throat of the
World, the highest mountain in Skyrim. I
suppose I'd better head that way immediately (aka in a few days). Lydia is waiting for me by the door. I feel bad about rejecting her services and leaving
her stood there, so I let her tag along for now. I even let her hold my axe from the Jarl.
As we exit the town gates, we pass the Khajiit caravan which has set up
outside rather than be permitted entrance into the city. Some thanks they get for chipping in with the
dragon! I am glad I’ve not put down
roots in this town. No wonder it’s
called WHITErun, amirite? We continue
along the western road past the ruined watchtower to see what manner of
miscreants Lydia and I can manhandle. We
happen upon Fort Greymoor, populated by wooden scarecrows and ruffians: the
perfect opportunity to try out my new spells. Dual lightning bolts blast bandits off
battlements with ease (although they do drain my mana something rotten), and
Lydia proves herself quite the archeress, and less glory-hogging than
Faendal. We'll see how her probationary
period fares.
Inside Fort Greymoor, I delight in zapping banditos to my heart’s
content. Or at least until my mana runs
out, which then involves me running around tables until I’ve regenerated enough
to zap all over again. Not exactly the
ruthlessly efficient criminal clear-out I intended. Also Lydia falls down a lot when dealing with
bigger badder bandits, but I can hardly hold that against her when I'm
exploiting the thugs’ furniture for cowering purposes. Fortunately, in between hiding and hurting, I *DING*;
my Magicka pool gets another boost, and Apprentice Destruction allows me to
cast my upgraded spells for only half the cost, both of which solves my mana
drought (for now).
 |
| Lydia interrupts one Orc's private cartwheeling session. |
Finally all lie dead apart from an old lady called Agnis, who claims she
was just their servant who kept the place tidy. Feeling bad that I've left her a lot more work
to do (and the Nine Divines know you can never get the smell of burnt hair out
of the upholstery), I make myself scarce and continue along the road. It strikes me a few days later that by taking
her at her word, without question, I could very well have allowed Skyrim’s own
supervillain to walk away, scot free.
 |
| Old Agnis: the Napoleon of Crime. |
 |
| "Kame....hame...." |
Recognising the name, I bump into the Alik'r warriors from Whiterun again, but
since I have made no progress (no effort) towards finding the Redguard woman
they seek, I politely ignore them. After
persuading the overprotective innkeeper to allow his son to go off adventuring in
the dangerous wilds of Skyrim (yeah...not entirely sure of the paragon-ness of
that decision), I retire for the night.
I have become over-encumbered along the way,
and so the first task in the morning will be to find a merchant upon whom I can
offload my procured wares. Secondly, I
will go shopping for nice clothes which I can enchant into suitably buffed
wizarding togs. Thirdly, I mean to find
a deity. If I'm going be hurling
lightning, I want it to be in the name of some higher power. As dawn breaks, I decide to
make what seems to be a short ride to Morthal in the north east, in search of a
new general goods store. This ‘short
ride’ actually takes around twenty four hours...
After being attacked by more wolves, bandits, a pair of frost wraiths, and
a bear which seemed to have taken down a mammoth single-pawedly, I finally
reach Morthal. Their attitude towards my chosen profession leaves a lot to be desired...  |
| Well this is awkward. |
And to make matters worse, I discover
that the town’s commercial activity is limited to a solitary apothecary. Grumbling I remount Allie, and make the long,
ambush-riddled ride back to Whiterun, zapping more bothersome beasties and odious
outlaws on the way. After offloading my excess
gear upon the local businesses, buying some rather fetching gloves from
Belethor in return, and utilising Farengar’s enchanting table, I discover I
have unknowingly *DING*ed twice since I first left Rorikstead. I plumb my points into my Magicka pool (again)
and learn Novice Conjuration and Augmented Shock: my Conjuration skill certainly
needs work (note to self: must get better at summoning Bitey when entering
combat), and an even more souped-up blast of electricity sounds far from
useless. ZZZZZAP!
theris108
In other news, Schmetty has been up to his old tricks again. Read about them here.
Next time on Pyppi's Adventures in Skyrim: mad jesters and pale ladies.
The first time I killed a dragon in Skyrim felt amazing. Such an epic battle
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