Dragonborn Gothic 1 - World-Eater
Part 5
Whiterun Skyrim.
"Ah! The Dragonstone. You found it" said the court wizard.
He sounded positively delighted about this. You'd think I'd just told him that I'd found a winning lottery ticket that he had somehow lost.
"You are certainly cut from a different cloth than the usual brutes the Jarl sends my way" he then added.
While I was trying to work out if I'd been insulted or not, he moved with surprising quickness and grabbed the stone from my hand. It seemed clear to me that he was very eager to get on with his work.
"You'll have to speak to the Jarl or the steward about your reward" I was then told "I'm sure one of them will have your payment".
With that he waved me off and set the stone down on the table. I waited a for a few moments, but the Drow lady who served the Jarl didn't come running in while shouting so I decided to head to the tavern for a pint of mead while waiting for the horror of a dragon attack to begin.
I got all the way to the door, then I looked around just in case something was happening, and I was about to leave when it burst open and the Dark Elf woman barged into the great hall. I had feeling that I knew what had lit a fire under her. Quite possibly in a very literal sense given the presence of dragons in this world.
"Farengar!" a voice called out.
Irileth stopped in her tracks when she saw me.
"A dragon has been sighted nearby" she told me "You'd better come with me".
She pulled me by the arm, clearly intent that I go with her.
"Well, it certainly didn't waste any time showing up, now did it?" I said.
For some reason this amused me. I didn't know why as this was a very dire situation.
"I'd take this a bit more seriously, if I were you," Irileth said to me in a harsh tone. "If the dragon attacks Whiterun, I don't know if we'll be able to defend ourselves against it".
We headed up to the second floor to find that a guard was reporting to the Jarl. Aside from the short delay with the Drow lady everything seemed to be progressing as it did in the game, which was good I guessed. At least it meant that I understood what was going on around here.
"It was fast. Faster than anything I've ever seen. I ran here as fast as I could. I thought it would come after me for sure" the guard was saying.
At this point my mind, odd thing that it was, decided to remember that the Jar's name was Balgruuf, which wasn't very helpful right now.
"Did it attack the watchtower?" Balgruuf asked.
"No. It was just...circling and watching" the guard replied.
The Jarl planted a reassuring hand on the guard's shoulder.
"You've done a good job" Balgruuf praised the man "See to it that you get some hot food and rest"
With a bow of his head the guard left. I figured he was go drown himself in whatever rotgut they had down in the barracks.
"What would you have me do, my lord?" Irileth asked.
She seemed eager for action. I was less eager as I didn't want to die. Yet really what choice did I have as if I didn't go and help the dragon I'd never get to eat its soul and the Greybeards wouldn't summon me. I might be able to get them to train me without eating the soul, but I wasn't going to go and climb a mountain on a maybe. I'd feel really stupid if I got all the way to the top and they didn't even open the doors.
"Take a small detachment of men and see what's going on at the western watchtower," Balgruuf ordered.
He then turned to me, and I could tell by his grim expression that he knew just how bad this could be.
"Go with her. You have more experience dealing with dragons than anyone else here" he said.
That was technically true. Of course my experience with those flying reptiles amounted to me running away from the only one I'd ever seen.
"I can run away from them pretty well. Other than that I don't know how much good I'll be" I admitted.
Maybe someone else would kill it and I could then swallow its soul.
"I should go with them," Farengar said, having followed us without me seeing him. "I would very much like to see this dragon".
Jarl Balgruuf shook his head.
"No, you will stay here. I'll not risk both your lives" he stated.
The wizard looked disappointed but nonetheless nodded his head in response, and I was also sad as having someone along who could throw fireballs about could have been rather handy. Shame about that.
"Get to the watchtower quickly, Irileth" the noble man ordered "There's no telling what damage that dragon can do if we don't stop it quickly".
I had an idea about to get some more help. I did happen to know some werewolves who were pretty decent fighters. Hopefully I had enough money to hire them.
(Line Break)
Wilderness. Skyrim.
"There's the watchtower!" one of the soldiers ahead the main group, called out.
The tower looked like it had been at least partly demolished, and the guards here hadn't fared any better than the ones in Helgan. A few corpses dotted the field along with broken stones and something was on fire.
The sight made me glad that I'd stopped by the mead hall of the Companions to ask for some help. Alas only Aela had been available, but she was a decent archer, and we would need all the fighters we could get our hands on. A whole army would have been nice, but since I didn't think I had enough to pay the one warrior for hire I'd been able to find I doubted that I could have gotten more people to come along.
Aela being here should at some point give me the chance to ask why she was wearing my leather jacket. She could have brought it because she thought it would look on her, which it did, and since she was a werewolf perhaps she smelled my scent on it, but that didn't explain her interest in me.
I was starting to wonder if the Companion werewolves could sense the dragon part of me and were responding to that. That was interesting if so, but it was something I'd have to think about in detail later on. Assuming I had a later on. I might be about to die, and I was oddly calm about that.
"So we're supposed to fight something which can do that," one of the guards said as he gestured at the devastation, "With what? Swords and arrows?".
An RPG launcher would be good right about now, or better yet a tank, but if I was going to wish for anything and have it appear I'd go with a nice helicopter gunship.
"Quit complaining," the Dunmer ordered "We have a job to do. Now I want you to fan out and look for any survivors. I want to know what happened here".
Despite earlier grumbling they instantly did as she ordered, rushing out to look over the area, clearly they respected her greatly, or feared her more than a dragon, either way I figured that it was a very wise idea to stay on the Drow's good side.
I made my way up to the tower itself. The stairway was littered with rubble and I was super weary of any movement. My hand flew to the hilt of the enchanted sword at my waist as a man in Whiterun guard's armour popped out of the doorway when I approached it.
"Who are you?" he asked in a panicked voice.
That seemed like an odd question given what had just happened around here, so I assumed that man was in some sort of shock, that would account for him asking me for my identity when we should enquiring if it was safe to come out of his hiding place.
"There's someone alive here!" Aela called out.
I assumed the smoke had prevented her werewolf senses from detecting his guy sooner as she actually sounded surprised to see someone alive here.
"Quiet, you fool! The beast will hear you," the guard whispered harshly.
As in reply a roar was heard and I felt the dragon coming, a little too late sure, but I felt it, and I wondered if it could feel me, that might explain why it returned as I arrived here, and perhaps it had even attacked the watchtower in order to draw out the dragonborn, but I wasn't sure if that made any sense, and right now I didn't much in the way of time to think about it.
The dragon swooped low and let loose a torrent of fire across the field, burning one of the guards to ash where he stood, an act that involved a large amount of screaming. Which really should have scared me shitless, but I just reached for my bow, fight again defeating flight.
Before long the soldiers returned the favour with arrows. I was impressed with how many projectiles so few people could let loose. When Aela and I joined in with some well aimed shots it became only a matter of time before we hit some part of the dragon that wasn't protected by scales.
Unfortunately when they did happen the result was to send the dragon into a rage. The dragon landed before another of the guards. He barely had time to scream before he was snapped up in the beasts mouth and shaken about like a dog playing a rag doll.
Knowing that I had to act now, before the creature once more took to the air, I leapt down from the steps I'd been standing on, and took off at a sprint towards the big scary thing as it released the now dead man and let him soar through the air until he hit what remained of the watchtower. A feat which showed just how strong these creature in fact were.
I drew my blade as I ran. I seemed to be the only one willing to attack it up close, though I couldn't blame the others for wanting to stay out of reach and use their bows. Only the Drow lady had the magical prowess required cast spells strong enough to harm, or least distract, the dragon.
Even though most of the arrows only bounced off its hard scales, they still kept annoyed to the point that it couldn't seem to decide who to go after.
While it was distracted I circled around to its side, hoping to get around behind the monster in order to attack from the side and evade its clearly deadly jaws. It anticipated this and blew forth another gust of flame that forced me to keep running rather than to attack.
The dragon spread its wings in an obvious attempt to take to the air and resume reeking havoc up where I couldn't reach it. With that in mind I ran under its wing and stabbed my sword upwards, piercing the much more delicate skin. I kept running forward so as to carve a large slice through the skin and ruin any ability the beast had to fly.
In response its tail swiped and sent me flying. My helmet flew off from the impact and I landed on the ground with a tumble. My sword flew somewhere from my grasp, but that not exactly my biggest concern right now.
I sat up in a daze. My head was sore and my left shoulder hurt, but I was sure that it wasn't broken or even dislocated, which had to be thanks to my new armour. All things considered, I had gotten pretty lucky.
Alas other people were not sharing my good fortune, I looked back up at the dragon in time to see it tear into the guard who had survived the first attack with its jaws, by the looks of things he'd been trying to bash the creature's still intact wing with a warhammer.
Within a few moments I had retrieved my sword and was now heading back towards the dragon. It turned its gaping maw towards me and I heard it Shout.
"Yol!"
The word was followed by another blast of flame. I stopped and dropped to the ground, reacting rather than thinking about what I was doing, and that was what saved my life. If I'd remained standing I would have been burned to a crisp, as it was I felt pretty sure that I lost some hair, the smell was horrible.
Once I got back up I ran forward and jammed my sword into the creature's eye, or at least that was what I attempted to. I actually ended up with the enchanted blade going into a hole that could be the creature's ear. Which for the dragon was not a pleasant experience of that I was sure.
In the end it wasn't actually me who slayed the beast. It was Aela that did the deed. She managed to drive her blade into the beast's eye, no doubt having had the same idea as me, and then repeated the feat a few times until the dragon dropped dead. Which was really a little anticlimactic, or at least it felt that way.
"That went better than I thought it would," I commented.
Irileth and the two remaining soldiers made their way over to me.
"We lost three good men to the beast, but that's better than losing all of Whiterun" said the Drow lady "I'm surprised it was able to destroy Helgen so easily".
"It didn't" I said.
She looked surprised upon hearing my words.
"That wasn't the dragon that attacked Helgen. It's smaller and the wrong colour" I explained.
No one found this to be welcome news.
"It looks like we have a lot more than just one dragon to deal with" the Dark Elf stated.
A sound not unlike that of a fire burning caused us to become distracted from our conversation. I turned around to see what looked for all the world like the dragon's flesh burning away. The glowing embers of the dragon's skin and flesh turned into a swirling vortex of energy. I was mesmerized by it until it suddenly flew forth and passed into me. It felt like the wind was knocked from my body. I dropped to my knees and clenched my eyes shut as a sort of power spread through my body, racing through my veins and making me feel very tingly.
"Fus!"
The Shout had been enough to make someone stagger back before, now I was sure that it was a more powerful Shout. It had broken apart the dragon's skeleton to some extent.
"He's the Dragonborn! He must be," one of the guards said excitedly.
"Don't be foolish. The Dragonborn is only a legend," the other berated him.
"So are dragons," the first retorted.
"What's a Dragonborn?" a guard asked.
"Stories tell of a man born with the body of a mortal, but the soul of a dragon," the first guard explained. "The last true Dragonborn was Tiber Septim".
I was feeling really giddy right now. There was new power coursing through me that made me stronger, and more alive. A guy could get used to feeling this way.
(Line Break)
Whiterun. Skyrim.
"You've returned!" the leader of the city said.
The Jarl stood up from his throne when we arrived. I figured that he was surprised to see us alive. Not that we'd all come back alive. A few of the guards were dead, although it was amazing that any of us had survived. If that dragon hadn't landed we wouldn't have won, and even then it had been a close thing.
"What happened at the watchtower?" we were asked "Was the dragon there?".
Irileth motioned for me to explain and I held back the urge to glare at her. I didn't really want to be the centre of attention. Right now I wanted to find something to eat as slaying dragons really makes you hungry.
"The watchtower was destroyed, all the men there are dead, and three of your men died in the battle" I reported "but somehow we killed the dragon".
I had no idea how we'd gotten so lucky, but luck it was.
"Did anything else happen at the watchtower?" he asked.
I wasn't sure how to tell anyone that I was the dragonborn and the Dark Elf ended up speaking for me.
"After the dragon was slain, this Imperial absorbed some kind of power from it" the Drow lady told her superior "and let loose a Shout of great power".
It hadn't been that powerful.
"A Shout?" he lord asked.
Was it just me or did the Jarl seemed less surprised than he should have been. Then again he had heard the Greybeards just like I had, and they had called for me while I'd been heading back to the city, so it wouldn't have been hard for the Jarl to come to the conclusion that the Dragonborn had appeared and that it had to something to do with the dragon which had attacked the Watchtower.
"Turns out that I might be the Dragonborn" I said "The dragon died, it sort of burned up and some kind of energy rushed into me".
Up until then I hadn't been one hundred percent sure that I was the chosen one, now there was no room for doubt.
"The Greybeards were calling you" the Jarl said as he sat back down on his throne "They are masters of the Voice who live in seclusion high on the slopes of the Throat of the World. The Dragonborn is said to be gifted in the Way of the Voice, able to focus his energy into a Thu'um, or Shout. If you really are the Dragonborn it is likely that they can teach you to use your gift".
This was when a powerful warrior looking type decided to speak.
"That was the Shout of the Greybeards, summoning you to High Hrothgar" he told me "It hasn't happened in centuries, at least. Not since Tiber Septim himself was summoned".
There was some debate about this between the steward and the warrior guy, but I ignored that and tried to decide on the best way to climb that mountain. It wouldn't be as simply as in the game, there might actually be seven thousands steps, and that could days to climb depending on the state of the mountain. Plus I would need to take into account the dangers. I shouldn't go alone.
"Despite your obvious apprehension, being summoned by the Greybeards is a tremendous honour. You should go to High Hrothgar as soon as possible," the Jarl was now saying.
Clearly he'd been able sense my worries. Of course I'd known that might have to climb that mountain. Now it just seemed more real.
"In the meantime, I wish to name you Thane of Whiterun in recognition of your services to our city" the Jarl told me" Do you accept?"
Rather than accept right away I enquired as to what obtaining the rank would mean for me. It didn't change much in the game, but this wasn't a game, and I didn't think I'd have time for courtly duties what the End of Days going on.
"Simply put, you would be a member of my court" it was explained "You'd be given a housecarl to serve under you. It is an honoured position not awarded to many people".
Naturally I took the title. If I survived the whole Dragonborn thing I'd need to think about my future and becoming a minor noble could help with that.
"Proventus, prepare for the ceremony tonight," the Jarl said, now addressing his minions "Irileth, I want you to find our friend here a suitable housecarl. I think Lydia is available".
"Yes, my lord" they both replied.
The man nodded curtly while the Dunmer bowed. Each was gone in a matter of moments, leaving me alone before the Jarl. The man who had been standing on my other side had vanished sometime during the conversation before without me noticing. He was stealthy for such a big fella.
"The ceremony to make it proper will be held in a couple hours" the Jarl let me know Until then, find something to eat. Fighting that dragon must have worked up quite an appetite. Oh, and I haven't forgotten about you bringing us the Dragonstone. I'll arrange proper payment soon".
With that I figured that it was time to go to the inn and get that drink I'd wanted.
(Line Break)
Whiterun. Skyrim.
"Come on in!" a middle-aged woman called out from behind a counter inside as I opened the door. "Take a seat and get the cold out. I just stoked the fire".
I closed the door behind me. It was colder than it had been last time. Perhaps the Starks were right, and winter was coming.
The woman who must be the innkeeper smiled at me as I made my way over to the counter and sat down on a stool.
"I'm Hulda, and this is my inn," she said, introducing herself. "Usually we're a bit more lively than this, but with all the going on up at Dragonsreach everyone is busy".
The place was nearly empty, with only a Redguard who looked to be busy cleaning up and a pair of lighter skinned humans at a table in a corner. The male of the two looked to be a Nord, judging by his general build and blond hair, while the narrow features of the woman suggested she was an Imperial. Although I had no idea if I was judging correctly, and I didn't think on it for long as race had never been much of an issue for me.
Upon closer inspection, it seemed that the woman cared little for the man's company, if her scowl was any indication. Unwanted advances perhaps?
As for why this place was nearly empty I imagined that they were sorting out stuff for the ceremony that should take place later. I would be knighted or something like that, and there was a dead dragon to celebrate as well. I could understand why'd they would party over such a thing as it meant that the dragons could be defeated, and that not all hope was lost.
"Would you like something to eat or drink?" Hulda asked me.
Her word broke me out of my thoughts about a very short quest that involved needing to punch a bard in the face many times.
"Some venison and mead would be great" I said.
I assumed that was a deer they had cooking on the firepit. The smell was mouthwatering and my stomach soon made its opinion on the matter known to the whole tavern. Which thankfully was ignored.
"Saadia! Get some venison for our guest!" the woman called out to the Redguard.
She called back in response and set about preparing my food. In the meantime tankard of cold mead was set down in front of me and I immediately took a large swig of it.
"Leave me alone!" a person then yelled.
A harsh tone caught my attention and I looked over at the pair in the corner to see the man with a smug expression that was plastered all over her face. The woman he was sitting with did not seem so pleased by what was going on.
I heard Hulda mumble something under her breath but couldn't make out the words. However I didn't really need to understand the words because her tone of voice let me know her point of view.
"Does this happen often?" I asked.
l was now keeping my eyes on the pair. I wasn't sure if I had the authority to arrest people as Thane, but the man, who was a bard if I remembered correctly, did try something perhaps I could convince a guard to lock him for the night in a cell.
"Unfortunately," Hulda said to me.
On the other hand I'd faced down a dragon today so a drunken bard shouldn't be too much of a problem, and I was in a good mood.
"Then maybe someone needs to go teach that man about the concept of manners," I decided.
I drank down the last of my mead and stood up from my stool, then I went over to the where the poor was being harassed. Guys who couldn't take no for an answer really pissed me off.
"Listen I don't normally intrude on other people's business, but something tells me that the lady doesn't want to be bothered,"
I stood over the man with my arms folded slackly across my chest, doing my best to look intimating. The bloke stood up to face me and actually managed to stare back at me at eye level.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's rude to get involved in other people's business, Imperial?" I was asked.
His voice was surprisingly calm. I was armed and armoured while all he had was his fists.
"It's also rude to keep pushing yourself on a woman who's clearly not interested," I pointed out.
He didn't take that well.
"Ha! Carlotta's already mine, even if she isn't ready to admit it yet" he argued.
I figured that she would never be his. He was too pushy to start with.
"She isn't yours or we wouldn't be having this discussion" I pointed out.
He didn't seem to appreciate that comment, if his narrowed eyes were any indication.
"I don't think I like your tone" he said.
That made two of us. I didn't care for his tone.
"I don't think I like you trying to force yourself on someone who wants nothing to do with you," I said to him "So how about you leave, or I can make you leave".
Right away I knew by the smirk he shot the woman that he was going to throw a punch, so when he did I blocked it. Which was impressive as I couldn't normally have done that. Not that it surprised me much as I'd just absorbed a dragon's soul and I so much more power now.
His face twisted into a mixture of surprise and pain when my fist slammed into his gut. I followed that attack up with a rather vicious punch to the face that sent him stumbling back against the wall. He was nearly knocked by the second punch, which was amazing because I'd never hit anyone that hard in my whole life. Just how powerful was I now?
Maybe the bard was drunk, this might explain why his lost his balance so easily. I knew it was important not to think too highly of myself as that sort of overconfidence was what got people killed.
"Get out of here" I told the local man "And if I hear that your bothering anyone I'll do worse next time".
Once he was gone I turned my head to face the woman.
"Sorry about interfering. It just didn't seem right to let him do that" I said.
Some women could be picky about men coming to their defence, either because they felt they should be able to fight their own battles, or because they didn't want to end up owing anyone for the save. Not that she did owe me anything as I'd mostly punched him because his actions were annoying me.
"I think that should make him think twice about pestering me in the future" the lady said "He's been after me for weeks. It's about time someone finally put a stop to it. Thank you".
At this point I was glad that she wasn't giving me an ear full, that would have ruined my good mood, and I was just about to sit down for dinner.
"It was my pleasure," I said.
The door opened to reveal a large Nord woman who was in steel armour. I figured that this was Lydia.
"Thane!" Lydia shouted as she caught sight of me.
She quickly shut the door behind her and fixed me with a disapproving stare. I'd gotten that stare from so many women my life, mostly those that I was related to.
"You left before I could introduce myself" she said.
Well to be fair the Jarl had dismissed me. I couldn't assume that Lydia was eager to start her new job. She never seemed happy about in the game, but I figured that being the Housecarl to a Dragonborn must be a big deal.
"You're the new Thane?" I heard Carlotta asked.
I just nodded my head as my mouth currently had some venison in it. The meat was nice and tender.
"So then you're the one who killed the dragon" the inn's owner said.
Rumors could really get around fast.
"No" I said, "But I did help slay it".
Aela might have dealt the killing blow, but it had been a team effort.
"From what I hear, he's also the Dragonborn," Lydia told people.
I hadn't wanted everyone to know that yet. Fame sounded good, but I knew that me publicly known as being the Dragonborn would make me a target once word got around. Although why anyone would risk knowingly killing the only person who could save the world was a mystery indeed.
"We should get to the ceremony" my Housecarl told me "I was set to fetch you".
I looked at my food and hoped that there was food up at the castle as I was really hungry, but I had to leave so I asked the innkeeper how much I owed her.
"It's some mead and venison. I'm hardly going to charge a Thane for that," she responded with a kind smile "Consider it complimentary".
Oh so there were perks to this Thane job after all. Good to know.