Hello all. Me again. This is going to be a continuation of Robina's story that I introduced in my first blog post, her soggy journal, so I highly suggest you read that first to get a feel of the story. Constructive criticism and other suggestions are highly appreciated. Anyway, without further ado, let me debut the Tale of Robina!
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Chapter 1: The Storm
My name is Robina Blackheart. I am a Nord born in Skyrim, but raised in Cyrodiil. I am 23 years old, born on the 17th of Second Seed, 4E 178, under the birthsign of The Lord. Only recently I went on a journey to Skyrim in order to escape my monotonous regular life. It won’t matter, however, as I’m about to die in a storm at the Sea of Ghosts.
The journey was going pretty well, Rihad aside. I’ve seen many interesting and strange sights and had more memorable experiences in a month than I’ve ever had in the last 22 years I was in Cyrodiil. The storm struck at sunset. A cabin boy spotted a massive black cloud heading our way. Captain Drakins already anticipated its arrival, so unlike everyone else on board, he didn’t panic. He instructed the crewmen to prepare the ship for the worst and ordered all passengers to return to their cabins immediately. I was already in my cabin, but I could hear his old but powerful voice from here. Once the storm hit us, I realized this wasn’t your average storm. It was a full-on tempest.
The Skinny Horker shook harder than ever before. The furniture in the cabin slid left and right in rhythm with the movements of the ship. Once in a while, the Horker met a rogue wave and even though there were no windows in my cabin, sprays of water came in from the tiny grooves in the ship’s hull. I couldn’t take it anymore. I got out of the cabin and headed for the upper deck to relieve myself of my dinner.
The rest of the ship wasn’t doing much better. The lower deck was foot-deep in water. Crewmen ran back and forth carrying buckets. A Breton passenger argued with an Argonian crewman. The Breton demanded salvation from this “damned ship” and the argonian told him that it was impossible. Anthril the Thalmor agent’s cabin door was open. As sick as I was, I decided to eavesdrop. Old habits do die hard. The bottom of Anthril’s fancy black uniform was almost floating in the miniature flood, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was shouting at a petite Dunmer girl, couldn’t be more than 19. Strange, I thought, Never seen her on the boat before.
“This is an outrage! Once I reach the blasted province, I’ll have you imprisoned, beheaded even!” shouted the Altmer.
“A thousand apologies, sera. It’ll never happen again. Just please, don’t kill me” she pleaded.
“Hmph. Worthless grayskin” he muttered as he marched off angrily towards the door. Panicked, I swiftly turned and pretended to fall. Anthril looked at me suspiciously, and I forced a dumb smile. He said nothing and continued walking. I sighed in relief before heaving myself up. I looked into the room once more in curiosity. The girl was crying in a bed. She looked so devastated. The right thing to do would be to get in there and comfort her, but unfortunately, my stomach had other plans.
Finally, I reached the upper deck and was greeted with a horrifying scene. The sky was pitch black and the clouds formed a funnel-like shape. Lightning struck the mast and thunder followed suit. Crewmen hastily fixed the broken parts of the deck. Their faces were filled with desperation and urgency. Then, without warning, my stomach reached its limit. I ran towards the railing and vomited. Captain Drakins turned his attention to me.
“Foolish girl! What are you doing here, Robina?! Return to your cabin, lass!” he shouted, barely audible through the storm. Suddenly, a rogue wave struck the front of the ship, blasting me, Captain and everyone else with frigid seawater. I obeyed him and rushed back down. Once I reached my cabin, I realized that my adventure is ending prematurely so I made one last entry in my journal. Then I grabbed an amulet of Akatosh and prayed for salvation. Suddenly, the ship shook greatly. I could hear screams coming from the other passengers. The lower deck quickly filled with water. This is it, I thought. I closed my eyes, continued praying and braced myself for the worse. The water reached my knees. Then it reached my waist, then my shoulders, then my mouth and finally I was submerged in ice cold water.
And suddenly, I was no longer there.
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Phew, it's finally posted! It might be a while before chapter 2's out, though(they don't call me "Lazy Rocktime" for nothing). Big thanks to Raidriar for peer-proofing this chapter. If anyone else would volunteer to be my peer-proofer, just send me a message. I'll gladly accept.
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