Skyrim adventures #2

Part 1.

Although I had been a member of the Mages Guilds in both Morrowind and Cyrodiil I had never really learnt how to use magic. In Morrowind I only ever used enchanted objects, scrolls, and potions. Never any spells or magic of my own. And in Cyrodiil the only spell I ever used was a simple healing spell. Now I thought it high time I learned! At the College I was introduced to my teacher Tolfdir and my fellow apprentices Onmund, J'zargo and Brelyna. As I've said before luck was never really on my side and I had a tendency to fall into things best left forgotten. This time I managed to get in contact with the Psijic Order and find a huge magical orb which no one seems to know what it is. Just my luck!

So while the Masters tried to find out what it was I busied myself with my fellow apprentices, and also with some of the more senior members. Arniel's experiment intrigues me and I hope to be with him all the way and see what he's working on. J'zargo's scrolls almost killed me! Brelyna turned me green and then into a cow! Thank the gods Onmund only asked me to get back an amulet of his. But Brelyna was incredibly cute and when I asked her if she liked me she said yes. We got married immediately. Maybe a little too soon? But it always warms my heart to come home and see her there. J'zargo became my follower for a while, while I found out more about the Orb inside the Midden Dark, and while the entire College unravelled once the Thalmor Ancano got his hands on the Eye. However, Onmund became the friend who went with me to Labyrinthian to find the Staff of Magnus to help control the Eye. There's no way to describe the relief I felt after I had defeated Ancano and the Psijic Order came and took the Eye away. I'd rather not have that thing anywhere close to me, thank you very much. The Psijic Order also appointed me the new Arch-Mage after Savos had died during the fight. It felt weird. I had just joined! I was no master of magic! But if he said so...

Arniel's experiment involved Keening! Never thought I'd see Keening again. Keening and Sunder, such big help when I defeated Dagoth Ur :) Arniel managed to recreate the events that led to the Dwemer disappearance. I was impressed. Not even Yagrum Bagarn knew what happened to his people.

I started noticing that I was being pulled back into Morrowind. I got several quests asking me to go to Solstheim, and I was even attacked by cultists accusing me of being a fake Dragonborn! The hell? The notes on them mentioned Solstheim. But I don't want to go back to Morrowind. Not yet anyway. Instead I decided to check out the Companions, which is the Fighters Guild equivalent in Skyrim. I had been a member of the Fighters Guilds in both Morrowind and Cyrodiil, and expected something similar. But the Companions have a secret: the most trusted members are werewolves. Farkas scared the shit out of me when he transformed in front of me to fight off the group that's been hunting them for being werewolves.

Because I knew of their secret I was very soon inducted into the Circle after I had joined the Companions. I became a werewolf. Aela brought me to kill off some Silver Hands, and that's when we found they had killed Skjor. Vengeance had us chasing down the Silver Hands, killing their leaders, stealing their plans... and then Kodlak found out. He admonished us for our behaviour and then sent me off to kill the Glenmoril Witches so that he might be cured of his lycanthropy. But when I got back it became awfully obvious that something was wrong. The Silver Hand had attacked Jorrvaskr, and when I got inside I found out that they had killed Kodlak. That old man had become so dear to me during the short time I had been with the Companions. I went with Vilkas to get back the shards of Wuuthrad and wipe out the Silver Hand in vengeance. I thought it had diminished my sorrow to deal with them, but then I found Kodlak's journal when Eorlund asked me to get Kodlak's piece of Wuuthrad. I read his thoughts and hopes, and it made me miss him so much. I attended his funeral and then agreed with the remaining members of the Circle to go to the Tomb of Ysgramor and attempt to cure Kodlak even in death.

At the Tomb we battled the Companions of old to prove our worth, and then we found the burial chamber. Kodlak was there and we attempted his way of curing himself. Aela and I fought his wolf spirit and won, thus succeeding in curing Kodlak. He promised to try and help cure the Harbingers before him when he had arrived in Sovngarde. Before he left he made me the new Harbinger. Once again it felt weird. I had only been with them for a short while. Maybe it's a Nord thing to place trust in someone you've only just met just cause they seem honorable?

Anyway, after having become both Arch-Mage and Harbinger I decided to take Hadvar up on his word that I should join the Legion. I travelled to Solitude and spoke with General Tullius. I soon became very attached to both him and Rikke as we fought to reunite Skyrim. While fighting in the civil war I also kept doing small jobs for the Blades, the Companions, and the College. Those jobs helped me a lot in exploring Skyrim. There's so much to see!

The thrill of fighting a big battle in a war should never be underestimated. The rush of adrenalin during the battle of Windhelm was incredible. But Tullius, Rikke and I made our way to the Palace of the Kings and inside Ulfric was waiting, along with his right hand Galmar. We killed them both and just like that Skyrim was free of his fake reign. It felt sort of anti-climactic but still very elating.