Just some pre-introduction words: This is my very first story that I'm putting out... I hope you guys will enjoy it! Just a disclaimer - my English is not really good... But I've tried my best here with it, and I welcome any comments on it, as well as how I can improve my story plots. Thanks everyone!
Chapter 1: The Golden Rays
The night sky was draped in darkness. Yet from afar, one could easily lay sight on the beautiful golden rays that projected from the offshore island that recently arose from the waters of Dawnstar. The central cave of the newly risen island was significantly covered in moss and ruin, with golden rays of light pouring out from the cracks. Rumors quickly travelled across the region, prompting several explorers to witness what was inside themselves. This night, the adventurer was ready to explore and seek out what treasures or mysteries that could be uncovered there, as he slowly trudged through the rocky shore and made his way closer to the source of light.
However, from afar, he heard a scream of pain. A group of bandits had overrun the place and established an outpost to guard the site. He hid behind the bushes and studied his surroundings. Another explorer had carelessly wandered into their territory and was held captive. There were three bandit Nords surrounding him, who was tied securely by thick ropes onto a stake. The adventurer could barely hear their conversations. "Well, well... look who got lost in the depths of the new island! Did you came here looking for treasure?" the leader mockingly questioned, and the trio laughed menacingly as the prisoner wept in despair. The adventurer had to think of a way to save him, or at least get past them and came for what he desired to find out - why the island projected golden rays from the inside. He studied his environment calmly. There was no way an adventurer as small-built as him would be able to handle the three Nordic bandits dressed in heavy steel armor who were equipped with large, intimidating war hammers in face-to-face combat with just his fire-enchanted dagger and invisible potions. He was a natural stealth warrior. He had to outsmart them. And luckily enough, the three bandits were noticeably drunk after drinking rounds of mead after their dinner. It was just the right opportunity for him to strike.
He noticed a torch stand that they had placed near the shore, which he silently crept towards and proceeded to retrieve its fire with minimal noise using a small lamp he carried with him. Slowly, he advanced nearer and nearer to the camp. Approximately a few feet away from the camp was a stash of their prized mead which were laid messily inside. The adventurer fished out his invisibility potion and left his belongings in the nearby bushes, slowly advancing towards the stash of mead. With a careful grip, he stole two of the bottles away whilst the three drunk warriors continued their threatening interrogation against the prisoner. He quietly scurried back to his hiding spot.
"Let me just... just have one more bottle of mead as we toast to his death! That will teach him not to mess with our territory again! Hahaha!" The leader belted out in a dominant, victorious tone. While the Nordic bandits had their back faced against the adventurer, the prisoner was shocked to witness bottles of mead being stolen yet no one was physically there. At this point, the prisoner understood what was happening, but his face was more of confused than scared. The adventurer grabbed a pebble from the ground and gave it a upwards throw aimed at their crate of mead. The rock travelled high up in the air, before landing on the crate with a loud thud. It caught the attention of the bandits.
"What was that?" one of the bandits shouted as the trio turned to the direction of the sound. "I may be drunk but I sure did hear something hit! No one is fooling me!" the bandit leader roared. It enraged the group as they walked towards the direction of the crate to inspect the situation. Immediately, the adventurer knew this was the right time - he had isolated them away from the prisoner. As quickly as he could, he raised his bottles of mead and began lighting them up with the light from the lamp. He stashed a piece of wet cloth over them and hurled it in their direction. The bottles landed and created an explosion. The bandits screamed in horror and realized they were ambushed. They drew their weapons immediately but were covered in flames and began wailing in pain. The adventurer withdrew himself from hiding and rushed towards the group of bandits, now shocked and in pain. He drew his dagger from his belt and swiftly proceeded to cut the throat of the leader and moved to dodge off his allies' badly aimed attacks and countered their assaults with another swift stab to their bodies. Within seconds, the ambush was over.
The adventurer then turned to the prisoner, and spoke, "I will untie you right now from the ropes. If you decide to do anything foolish, I will not hesitate to end your life just like theirs." The prisoner quickly replied, "No! I won't do anything as foolish! Please, release me now! The ropes are hurting my hands!" The adventurer took his dagger to cut the knots loose, which loosened the ropes and dropped the prisoner to the ground. "Thank you for saving me. I only wanted to come and find out what my fellow people were talking about this mysterious light firing out of the cave. Never did I expect to meet a group of bandits here. It's nice to meet you, my savior. My name is Vance, I'm a new citizen to Dawnstar." The adventurer accepted his thanks and replied, "It's dangerous here. My name is Vokir. I was adopted by a family in Riverwood and now just a traveller in the land of Skyrim. What exactly are you doing here unarmed with any weapon?" Vance explained, "The members of Dawnstar have been talking about the island and its occurences. They were worried that it might bring about unwanted trouble, so they wanted to dispatch a scout to learn more about the location. We did not know that news travelled so quickly, that everyone would know about the place... The island only risen from the waters just six days ago, so I thought I wouldn't expect any company here." The adventurer then explained his agenda for being there and they both agreed to explore the island together.
