Chapter 2: Open world

Ralof and I arrived in Riverwood when the sun was slowly setting.

Since I was still wearing this Stormcloak armor we both looked like a patrol right now but Ralof told me that this area is neutral so there shouldn't be any problems. When we entered the village we took the first way on the left side of the street where a woman was currently working.

"Gerdur!", Ralof shouted. So that is his sister. She stopped working and her eyes widened when she noticed him. She immediately came over to us and greeted us.

"Brother! What are you doing here? I thought you had a mission.", she asked while looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

"Gerdur-", Ralof tried to continue but his sister kept asking questions.

"And who is this? One of your comrades?", she asked while looking back at her brother.

"Not a comrade but a friend. He saved my life today. Can we please continue where not everybody can hear us?", I wanted to interrupt when he said that I saved him but decided against it.

"Of course. Hod, can you come over here? Hod!", she called but I didn't know who this person was. We followed her to a more quiet place with a stump.

"Of course! Ah, Ralof, what are you doing here? Wait, I come over in a minute.", a male voice replied from the distance. Ralof sat down onto the stomp and regained his breath for a minute. It was a long walk from Helgen to Riverhood, it took us almost two hours without stopping.

Suddenly I saw a kid with a dog running towards us with an excited expression.

"Uncle Ralof! How many Imperials have you killed today? Do you really know Ulfric Stormcloak?", he asked with a smile but Gerdur seemed a bit annoyed.

"Frodnar, this is not the right time for that. Please keep looking if Imperial soldiers should be heading towards us.", she said. The kid seemed a bit disappointed and looked at her.

"But mom, I want to talk with Uncle Ralof!", he said with pleading eyes.

Ralof chuckled a bit and spoke up again.

"Look at you, almost a grown man! Someday you will be joining the fight yourself.", Ralof said. The kid's expression immediately lightened up again.

"That's right! Don't worry Uncle Ralof, I will tell you if Imperials are heading towards us.", and with that, the kid ran away again with his dog following him. This child surely had a lot of energy… Some minutes later a Nord male walked towards us. He greeted Ralof and me and stood beside Gerdur to listen to the conversation.

"Now tell me brother, what happened?", Gerdur asked with curiosity in her voice. Ralof looked for a moment into the distance before he replied.

"I can't remember when I last slept. Where to start? Well the news you heard about Ulfric was true. The Imperials ambushed us outside Darkwater Crossing. Like they knew exactly where we'd be. That was…

two days ago now. We stopped in Helgen this morning and I thought it was all over. Had us lined up to the headman's block and ready to start chopping.", Ralof told her and Gerdur started to glare.

"The cowards!", she hissed when Ralof continued.

"They wouldn't dare give Ulfric a fair trial. But then… out of nowhere…

a dragon attacked…", Gerdur couldn't believe what she just heard and from the look Hod had, I think he couldn't either.

"You don't mean a real…",she said before Ralof interrupted her.

"I can hardly believe it myself, and me and my friend were there.

As strange as it sounds, we'd be dead if not for that dragon. In the confusion we managed to slip away. Are we really the first who made it to Riverhood?", he asked.

"Nobody else has come up the south road today, as far as I know.", Gerdur replied while Ralof looked a bit troubled.

"Good, maybe we can lay up for a while. I hate to get your family in danger Gerdur, but…", Ralof was immediately interrupted by Gerdur.

I should have guessed that they are a family but anyway.

"Nonsense. You and your friend are welcome to stay here as long as you need to. Let me worry about the Imperials.", I already liked those people. She then turned to me with a smile.

"Any friend of Ralof is also my friend. Here's the key to the house. Stay as long as you like. If there is anything else you need, just let me

know.",she said and gave me the key. But before I could thank her, she continued.

"There is something you could do for me. For all of us here.

The Jarl needs to know if there is a dragon on the loose. Riverhood is defenseless. We need to get word to Jarl Balgruuf in Whiterun to send whatever troops he can. If you'll do that for me, I'll be in your debt."

"Don't worry. That is the least I can do to repay your help. I'll make my towards Whiterun as fast as I can.", I replied back. She gave me some food and potions for my travel for which I thanked her again. Then Ralof spoke up again.

"Thanks sister, I know we could count on you.", he said while smiling.

"I should get back to work before I am missed but… did anyone else escaped? Did Ulfric…", she asked before Ralof interrupted again.

"Don't worry. I'm sure he made it out. It will take more than a dragon to stop Ulfric Stormcloak.", he replied.

"Good luck, brother. I'll see you later.",she said before going back to work and Hod going back into his house again. Then Ralof stood up and turned to me and spoke up again.

"I knew my sister could help us. Well, you're going to leave

leave today, right?", he asked.

"Yes, the earlier, the better. And I just can't sit still, I want to see Skyrim again.", I replied with a smile.

"Then I wish you good luck. And please think about my offer.", he said and be both shared a hug.

"Don't worry, I will. Maybe next time we will be fighting on the same side.", I said and we laughed a bit before I went back to the main street of the village. But maybe it wouldn't hurt to go to a store, only to make sure that I'll have everything I need. I'm sure this village has a store somewhere… Ah, here. There was a little house with a shield beside the entrance. I entered the house but I didn't expected what I saw right now. There was a male and female Imperial who were talking about something. Well, talking was the wrong word, they were quarreling with each other…

"Well, somebody has to do something about it!", the woman hissed.

"I said no! We're not going to do thief chasing!", the man shouted back.

They continued to argue when they suddenly noticed me.

"Oh, a customer. I'm sorry that you had to hear this.", the man said while the woman only looked at me.

"Don't worry but what were you talking about?", I asked curiously.

"Well… our store was kinda… robbed last night. But nothing was stolen, the thieves only wanted one thing. A claw, made with pure gold. But the Riverhood trader has always a good sortiment, don't worry.", he said. That woke my interest, why not helping somebody if he needs it?

"Maybe I can help you.", I replied while their eyes widened.

"Really? I have some gold from my last supply. The gold is yours if you can bring my claw back. The thieves went to a place called Bleak Falls Barrow. It's not far from here. My name is Lucian and that is my sister Camilla by the way.", he said. Ralof already told me about this place while we were still travelling. I should expect some Draugr there.

"I'll try to bring it back, don't worry.", I replied and wanted to exit when suddenly the woman stopped me.

"I can show you the way, I'm sure you could need some guidance.", she said and smiled at me but I slightly narrowed my eyes, almost not noticeable.

"I should find the way on my own, thanks.", I said without anger or annoyance in my voice and turned to leave. I took the way from which I arrived here and made my way out of the village.

XxxxxX

In front of me was a path, leading up to a mountain, where Black Falls Barrow was. After some minutes following the path, I came to a small tower with some bandits guarding it. They haven't noticed me yet but I'm not going to sneak past them. Since I had to go this way I charged at the bandits and before the first one could react I killed him with some strikes. Another one, an Orc took his iron warhammer and tried to hit me but he was too slow, it was easy to dodge his attacks.

"How about you run away and I kill you from behind.", he mocked me.

But I only smirked and shot a fireball in his face and he flew against some rocks, not moving anymore. The last bandit tried to kill me with his bow but I did the same with him and shot some fireballs at him which killed him after some minutes. Magic can be really useful sometimes.

After a while I could already see Black Falls Barrow on top of the mountain but I also noticed some other bandits, guarding the entrance.

Those must have stolen the golden claw. Some of them noticed me and immediately attacked me. A Nord charged at me with his warhammer but this time I slashed my axe into his face after he tried to hit me. Another one tried to kill me with his iron dagger but I barely noticed his strikes and killed him after with some hits of my axe. The last two bandits were firing arrows at me and I countered with my fireballs, which didn't took very long until they were dead on the ground.

When I entered the building, I saw two corpses on the ground and two other bandits talking with each other. I could try out the bow Ralof gave me… I pulled it out and targeted at one of the bandit's head. The arrow killed him instantly and I praised myself for this headshot. The other one however could taste my iron axe with which I killed the bandit shortly after that. There stood a chest near where the bandits were standing but it only contained some gold. But I won't say no to free gold.

I walked down some stairs with my iron axe still equipped and soon in front of me were many spiderwebs which blocked my way. Not again…

But suddenly I heard somebody shouting.

"Hey, is anybody there? Please help me!", I quickly slashed the spiderwebs and entered a small room with more spiderwebs covering the walls and I could see somebody who stuck in a spiderweb.

"Hey, you! Please cut those spiderwebs and help me!", he yelled. Suddenly a spider fell down from the ceiling.

'No, no, no, no. Not a GIANT spider!' I thought to myself. It quickly charged at me and I barely avoided it's attack and slashed at it with my axe. It managed to hit me with one of it's legs and I could instantly feel the poison running through my veins but luckily I could kill it with a strike at it's head. The poison effect stopped after some seconds but I quickly healed myself with a healing spell.

"Yes, you've killed it! Now cut through this spiderwebs!", he shouted. Is he ordering me right now? I walked over to him to free him but then something woke my interest. I could see the golden claw on his back.

Maybe he is the leader of those thieves… I pulled out my iron axe and the man thought I would free him but what I did next shocked him. Instead I cut my axe into his face, killing him instantly. I cut through the spiderwebs after that and just took the claw from his corpse. He also had a diary with him but I didn't care about it and walked into the next room. There were some urns and a chest with some gold in it but this time I ignored it. I will get some gold when I give the claw back so I don't need it anyway. I came into a bigger room with many skeletons in some graves. I didn't think of it when suddenly some of them stood up and pulled out some old swords. Draugr… they are even worse than those zombies in Cyrodiil. I killed them with a couple strikes and walked down some stairs where three other Draugr came out of their graves and attacked me. I noticed a trap with an iron wall and some spikes on it and decided to use it against them. There was a pressure plate on the ground and I jumped over it. Luckily one of them was dumb enough to walk over it and the wall killed all three of them and I didn't even have a scratch. I walked into other rooms while killing some Draugr here and there when I came into a room with oil on the ground. In front of me was a staircase with some Draugr charging at me. I fired a fireball at the ground which sparked the oil and soon the ground was burning, killing the Draugr in front of me. Only one of them was still alive, trying to kill me with his bow but I quickly shot another fireball into his face. I walked up the stairs and soon came into a little cave, which looked absolutely different than the other rooms. At the end of the cave I had to jump onto a little bridge of stone, where the area was covered with snow. A Draugr was patrolling on the bridge right now but I didn't even had to take my axe I just pushed him down off the bridge and walked into another room. There was a wooden door in front of me and some urns which I ignored, instead I opened the door and came into another room, where a Draugr was guarding the door to the next room.

He charged at me but I was taking it easy and when he hit me with his sword, I noticed that he was stronger than the other ones. But soon he lay dead on the ground. But actually he was already dead…

In the next room was a long floor with a special… door or wall at the end. It had some strange pictures and a in the middle were three holes in which the golden claw was fitting perfectly. But I had no idea what to do with those pictures. But I noticed that on the claw were the same pictures. So I just changed the pictures on the wall so it looked exactly like on the claw and it opened. It's magic!

Behind the wall was a large room with stones and in the distance I could see a chest. Maybe there is something more useful in it. But when I walked over to it, I noticed that beside this chest was a strange wall with some kind of… words or samples on it. But what took my interest was that one of those words was glowing blue and even stronger when I walked near it. When I stood before the word, the energy flooded into my mind and then the blue glow disappeared.

"Fus… what?", I muttered to myself. Somehow the word Fus came into my mind and it somehow burned into my mind, so I couldn't forget it.

But what it meant, I didn't know. But I didn't really care about it right now. I just opened the chest and there were only some healing potions and gold in it. Great, this chest was useless.

Suddenly I heard a Draugr coming out of a grave and I quickly turned around. A Draugr with armor came out of a grave, next to the chest.

He pulled out a great sword. I pulled out my iron axe and charged at it.

But then it shouted the same word which I have learned right now.

"Fus!", the shout was powerful and it almost knocked me off of my feet but then I slashed my axe at him. It blocked my attack and hit me with his great sword. The wound felt cold and then I noticed that it's sword was enchanted with frost magic. Luckily as a Nord, I'm more resistant to frost and ice attacks than any other race. I quickly stood up again and dodged another attack and hit it with my iron axe when the Draugr shouted this word again.

"Fus!", it hindered me to attack again and he tried to hit me with a hard strike from his sword but I quickly took a step back to dodge. He still had to regain his energy after that attack and I took that chance to counterattack and slashed my axe into it's face, killing the Draugr instantly. Well that was close. With what kind of magic or power has it attacked me, it was the same kind of power this dragon has been using, only a lot weaker. I looted his corpse and found an interesting looking stone. There was some kind of… map on it. I decided to take it but the rest wasn't really interesting. I walked up some stairs and walked towards a wall with a button on it. It opened a small part of the wall and I could finally get out of here. By now it was daytime again and I made my way back to Riverwood.

XxxxxX

I entered the Riverwood trader again and immediately Lucian spoke up.

"You're back! Have you got the claw?", he asked with gleaming eyes and I just pulled the claw out of my bag and gave it to him.

"Ha, it's really it! Weird, it's smaller than I thought. Funny, right?", he said with a smile.

"Your welcome.", I simply replied back.

"Here is the gold which I've promised. I hope it's enough. And thanks again that you've helped me. What is your name by the way?", he asked.

"My name is Arcos. It was really no problem. But I should leave again, I have to get to Whiterun as soon as possible.", I replied.

"I understand. I wish you good luck my friend.", he replied back and laid the claw on a table. But when I turned to leave, I was stopped by this Camilla again.

"Feel free to stop by from time to time.", she said with a flirting smile.

I just turned around and left the store.

'I'll try to avoid this store as much as I can.' I thought to myself as a mental note. But then I made my way to Whiterun.

XxxxxX

In the distance I could already see the town and little farms. I continued to walk down the street towards Whiterun and after a while, I came to a small farm where the earth suddenly started to shake. On a field, there was a Giant fighting against some people. Every time the Giant would hit the ground with his mace, the earth started to shake but the people who were fighting the Giant didn't seem to have any problems and after some minutes the Giant lay dead on the ground while those people haven't even lost one man. But I just ignored them and walked towards the town entrance which was guarded by two soldiers. One of them walked towards me and spoke up.

"Halt! The town is because of the Dragons closed, entry only with permission.", he said.

"Riverwood is in danger and needs the Jarl's assistance.", I replied back and the soldier seemed to accept my answer.

"Riverwood too? You better get inside. You can find the Jarl in the Dragonsreach.", and with that, I could enter.

Inside the town, the first thing I saw was a male Nord in Imperial armor talking to a smith and some people walking around the city. The main street led to a marketplace while from the entrance to the town you could also take a way on the left side which led to some stairs. Witherun has changed a lot since I was last here but I'm sure Dragonsreach is still the same. I walked to the marketplace where many people were just looking around or buying something. On the left side I walked towards some stairs which led directly to Dragonsreach.

There was also a shrine of Talos, where a strange man was talking nonsense. Or at least I'm sure he's just talking nonsense. The guards barely greeted me while I was walking up the stairs and after some minutes I finally arrived in front of Dragonsreach and entered it.

It still looked the same, a way leading up to some stairs while on the left and right side were two tables with food, in the middle a fire and in front of it the seat where the Jarl was sitting right now with some guards and his Huscarl. Right now he was talking to somebody who was unknown to me but when his Huscarl noticed me, who was a Dark Elf, she drew her weapon and walked towards me.

"Why this interruption? Jarl Balgruuf doesn't receive visitors.", she said.

We both weren't trusting each other but I held myself back to pull out my axe.

"I have news from Helgen. About the Dragon attack.", I replied calmly.

"Well, that explains why the guards let you in. Come on then, the Jarl will want to speak to you personally.", she said and putted her sword back. When I walked to the Jarl, he had already finished his talk with the other man and spoke up again.

"So, you were at Helgen? You saw this dragon with your own eyes?", he asked.

"Yes, I had a nice view while the Imperials tried to cut off my head.", I replied with a bit of humour but after I said that, I noticed how stupid it was.

"Well, you're talking pretty… openly, about your criminal past. But it's not my business who the Imperials are trying to execute. Especially now. What I want to know is, what exactly happened there?", luckily he took it with humour.

"The dragon destroyed Helgen and the last thing i saw is that it was heading into this direction.", I replied more seriously this time.

"By Ysmir, Irileth was right What do you say now, Proventus? Shall we continue to trust in the strength of our walls? Against a dragon?", he said and looked to the man standing beside him.

"My lord, we should send troops to Riverwood at once. It's in the most immediate danger if that dragon is lurking in the mountains.", Irileth said before Proventus spoke up.

"The Jarl of Falkreath will view that as a provocation! He'll assume we're preparing to join Ulfric's side and attack him-", he couldn't finish his sentence when Balgruuf interrupted.

"Enough! I will not stand by while a dragon burns my hold and slaughters my people! Irileth, sent a detachment to Riverhood at

once.", Balgruuf ordered.

"Yes, my Jarl.", she said.

"If you'll excuse me I'll return to my duties.", Proventus said and with that both he and Irileth walked away when Balgruuf spoke up again.

"Well done. You sought me out on your own initiative. You've done Witerun a service and I won't forget it. Here, take this as a small token of my esteem. There is… another thing you could do for me. Suitable for someone of your particular talents, perhaps. Come, let's go find Farengar, my court wizard. He's been looking into a matter related to these dragons and… rumors of dragons.", he said before getting up from his throne and walked towards a small room while I followed right behind. When we arrived, Balgruuf talked to this wizard before leaving the room again. Farengar looked at me for a moment before he spoke to me.

"So the Jarl thinks you can be of use to me? Oh yes, he must be referring to my research into the dragons. Yes, I could use somebody to fetch something for me. Well, when I say fetch, I really mean delve into a dangerous rofe in search of an ancient stone tablet that may or may not actually be there.", he said when something came into my mind.

Dangerous ruins… stone tablet… dragons…

"Do you mean this stone here?", I asked before pulling out the weird stone I found in Black Falls Barrow. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"Yes, that's exactly it! You already found the dragonstone. You're really not like those others the Jarl has sent to help me.", he said and took the stone. A dragonstone… I would really want to know more about it.

But suddenly I heard Irileth calling for Farengar and entered the room.

"Farengar, a dragon has been sighted!", she said and took a moment to regain her breath. Well this could be getting interesting.

And I end it here. So Arcos is going to fight the first dragon instead of running away. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

There has only been one word to translate.

Fus / Force