-
Posted by
Paul M September 6, 2014 -
476 views
Lydia and I arrive in Morthal at just after 3pm, having made impressive time through the flat lands of the Pale. As we stroll up Main Street there is some sort of confrontation with the local Jarl, but we try our best to ignore it. A lady asks me to deliver a letter to Danica back in Whiterun, which I agree to do as the war will no doubt bring us past that way as we march on the Stormcloaks in Windhelm.
We slip in to the Moorside Inn and find a quiet corner in which to pass the evening. The bar is almost identical to the one in Winterhold, right down to the landlord complaining about the lack of business and the rooms without doors. Lydia and I last ten minutes before I get the travelling itch again and go poking around the rest of the town.
We find a wizard called Falion who has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about people not trusting wizards, but I let that go in order to take a look at the spells he has for sale. No spells that I haven't already seen, but he does do an impressive line of apprentice mage clothing, which would be a step up from my novice apparel. It's all a bit rich for my blood though, so I have to pass for now.
Eventually I find an alchemy table to pass enough time to justify heading back over to the inn for some rest before we roll out tomorrow. As the sun is rising ten hours later Lydia and I resolve to ditch this tedious backwater, taking the most direct route that I can make out into the west. We track trough some pleasant enough swampland, and I collect the native death bells and fungal pods for potion making later. Turning north at Fort Snowhawk we can see the city on top of some cliffs, and remembering that I haven't eaten in some time I push Lydia to get there with me in time for lunch.
Reaching the base of the cliffs we find that we seemingly need to come at the city from the west in order to be at the right height. A dragon turns up and begins flying around and roaring at us, but I'm guessing there must be warriors in the city that keep it distracted while Lydia and I head south to begin climbing to find the entrance to the city. We see some ships on the path ahead just as the dragon lands on them, but I can see no better option than to head over anyway and take what comes.
It turns out the dragon is too easily distracted to do anything more than occasionally pester us as we head up from the docks and into Solitude. There's some sort of execution going on inside the city walls for a Stormcloak sympathiser. It's a rotten business, but something that must be done I guess. We climb some stairs onto the rampart walls, and then enter the castle from there without touring the city at all.
We find General Tullius who is talking about Ulfric's plans to attack Whiterun. The General points us at a Nord Leggate called Rikke who gives me a mission to clear out a Fort before I can enlist. The name of the fort sounds dwarven but I'm sure Lydia and I can do what needs to be done. We accept the challenge and head back out to the city. It's 7:30pm, so I plan to catch another night's rest before trekking west to complete our task. Looking at the map it seems like a pretty useless location, but maybe being so far behind the front line is part of some imperial master strategy.
We come to the Blue palace, in the hope that it will offer some rooms for the night, and some food as I have now depleted my rations of raw meet and apples. Instead we find Jarl Elisif sitting in court over the region's problems. Chatting to her, I find she is the widow resultant from Ulfric's shouting match with the old king. She's an impressive lady, but she hasn't yet turned to renting out rooms of the palace, so we move on and come at last to the Winking Skeever, where a good night's rest awaits us.
We leave Solitude and take the path west. Although the sky is darkened by thunderclouds there is a warmer feel to these lands than our past haunts, and the snow on our boots is soon replaced by a dusty pungent mud. We soon come to a fork in the road and turn north, towards a range of mountains which then run west to our destination. Quite unexpectedly we arrive at the Thalmor embassy, which we would stop and visit only the gate is locked and I can't persuade Lydia to give me a leg up over the wall.
Circling the embassy and then slipping down some rocks to get back on the path east brings us to a reeking cave which I decide to have a quick look inside, but quickly change my mind when Lydia gets bushwhacked by a frost troll. Lydia takes out her frustrations on a hag at Widow's Watch further west around the coast, before we pass the base of a mountain upon which our destination sits.
We circle around, passing a dead Stormcloak soldier and the bloodied entrance to Steepfall Burrow just after the path switches back on itself. Fort Hraggstad is occupied by your typical bandits, but also a highwayman with an astonishingly accurate and powerful bow and arrow. I tell Lydia to wait for me outside, as I figure this calls for something other than her get-stuck-in approach. Circling the fort anti-clockwise I find a crumbled rear wall, and use an invisibility potion to climb to the highest tower. From there I snipe the lesser foes, then use a raise corpse spell to send them back into the fray. At one point I dash down to where the powerful archer is roaming, blurt out the content of a summon storm atronach scroll and then dash back up the tower. Eventually I use a lightning bolt spell and a dodge and duck tactic to grind the villain down.
The sun has set by the time I've gone back outside to get Lydia to help search the interior areas. We start with the prison, on the off chance we'll find an ally of some description. We have no such luck, but at least there are three less bandits by the time we're done. We head to the main keep and deal with three slightly tougher specimens, and I get the impression that our work here is done. It's 11pm, so Lydia and I decide first to rest, and then early on Turdas we head back for Solitude.
