Day Twenty-Two - A Grey-Mane Saved and a Mage Made

I parted ways with the residents of Dragon Bridge the next morning and continued my journey to Northwatch Keep on the province's north-western coast. I tried to be diplomatic with the Thalmor guards keeping watch over the old fort, but my pleas fell on deaf ears, as did my attempts to persuade them. A sword through the neck, I soon found out, proved more than enough to earn their attention. The Thalmor are incredibly skilled warriors and magicians, and even now I cannot explain how I was able to hold my own against a whole contingent - I can only put it down to the skills I've amassed through practising my Thu'um, and reliance on old spells that I'd all but forgotten over the years. When all the guards outside had been silenced, I made my way into the keep itself.

Inside the keep were yet more guards, as well as a handful of dedicated mages and conjurers. One of these conjurers summoned an enormous Storm Atronach, and I was incredibly lucky to stay alive, knocking back a Resist Shock potion just before being hit with a near-paralysing jolt of lightning that would have otherwise done me in. Again, I'm not sure how I survived the onslaught, but the fact I write this now only serves to prove how probable the illogical can be in this mixed-up province. I found Thorald in the keep's torture chamber, chained to the wall and rather worse for wear. I freed him from his irons and told him I'd been sent by his family. He thanked me, and together we re-traced my steps to the keep's entrance.

Once we were back out in the bitter cold Skyrim air, Thorald offered me proper thanks and asked me to relay a message to his mother and brother back in Whiterun. I told him I would gladly do so, and we parted ways - he to WIndhelm, to seek protection within the ranks of the Stormcloaks, and I back to Whiterun to pass on the good news of his release. Given that evening was already well underway by the time we emerged from Northwatch Keep, I elected to spend the night at the Four Shields in Dragon Bridge once again, and move on to Whiterun in the morning.

An early night meant an early start the next morning, and I opted to take a slightly more scenic route back to Whiterun via the Reach, just to take in some more of the sights, sounds and smells of my homeland - the homeland I have had little time to appreciate since returning to it all those weeks ago. Even with all these distractions, I was back in Whiterun at midday, and made straight for the marketplace to tell Fralia the good news. She seemed suspicious at first, but as soon as I relayed the specifics of Thorald's message to her, she seemed satisfied. As a reward, she presented me with a stamina-draining greatsword forged by Eorlund himself. After passing on the message, I made straight for the forge at Warmaiden's and used it to smith myself a fine suit of armour in the Orsimer style. Unfortunately I still lack the materials needed to refine and complete the set - hopefully I will soon come by more Orichalcum on my travels.

The conflict at Northwatch Keep has served to remind me that I've been neglecting my arcane abilities of late, and so to put this right, I've elected to spend some time at the College of Winterhold in the coming days. Before leaving Whiterun, I returned to Dragonsreach for one last meeting with Farengar, who was kind enough to sell me some more advanced spell tomes from the Destruction school at very reasonable prices. With these stronger spells in my armoury, I left Whiterun and spent the remainder of the evening trekking to Winterhold, arriving there just before nightfall. I have booked a room at the Frozen Hearth, and intend to enrol formally at the College tomorrow. Until then,

Ever Honest,

Lenah'd Retsmek

---

Previous Episodes

• Day Twenty-One - Whiterun Errands and a Missing Gray-Mane
• Day Twenty - Search for the White Phial
• Day Nineteen - Siding With the Stormcloaks
• Day Eighteen - Two Sides of the Same Septim
• Day Seventeen - Tracking the Telvanni Line
• Day Sixteen - Finding Lost Books and Lost Words
• Day Fifteen - The Axe and the Masque
• Day Fourteen - A Daedra and His Dog
• Day Thirteen - Treason and Betrayal
• Day Twelve - Counsel from the Greybeards
• Day Eleven - Old Towns, New Faces
• Day Ten - New Thu'um, New House
• Day Nine - Retrieving the Star
• Day Eight - Azura's Champion
• Day Seven - Wuuthrad and Werewolves
• Day Six - Kynareth's Will Be Done?
• Day Five - The Companions and the Sleeping Tree
• Day Four - Duelling With a Dragon
• Day Three - The Bandit, the Wife and Her Lover
• Day Two - The Golden Claw
• Day One - Escape from Helgen
• Day Zero - Here Begins My Journal

Day Twenty-Two - A Grey-Mane Saved and a Mage Made

I parted ways with the residents of Dragon Bridge the next morning and continued my journey to Northwatch Keep on the province's north-western coast. I tried to be diplomatic with the Thalmor guards keeping watch over the old fort, but my pleas fell on deaf ears, as did my attempts to persuade them. A sword through the neck, I soon found out, proved more than enough to earn their attention. The Thalmor are incredibly skilled warriors and magicians, and even now I cannot explain how I was able to hold my own against a whole contingent - I can only put it down to the skills I've amassed through practising my Thu'um, and reliance on old spells that I'd all but forgotten over the years. When all the guards outside had been silenced, I made my way into the keep itself.

Inside the keep were yet more guards, as well as a handful of dedicated mages and conjurers. One of these conjurers summoned an enormous Storm Atronach, and I was incredibly lucky to stay alive, knocking back a Resist Shock potion just before being hit with a near-paralysing jolt of lightning that would have otherwise done me in. Again, I'm not sure how I survived the onslaught, but the fact I write this now only serves to prove how probable the illogical can be in this mixed-up province. I found Thorald in the keep's torture chamber, chained to the wall and rather worse for wear. I freed him from his irons and told him I'd been sent by his family. He thanked me, and together we re-traced my steps to the keep's entrance.

Once we were back out in the bitter cold Skyrim air, Thorald offered me proper thanks and asked me to relay a message to his mother and brother back in Whiterun. I told him I would gladly do so, and we parted ways - he to WIndhelm, to seek protection within the ranks of the Stormcloaks, and I back to Whiterun to pass on the good news of his release. Given that evening was already well underway by the time we emerged from Northwatch Keep, I elected to spend the night at the Four Shields in Dragon Bridge once again, and move on to Whiterun in the morning.

An early night meant an early start the next morning, and I opted to take a slightly more scenic route back to Whiterun via the Reach, just to take in some more of the sights, sounds and smells of my homeland - the homeland I have had little time to appreciate since returning to it all those weeks ago. Even with all these distractions, I was back in Whiterun at midday, and made straight for the marketplace to tell Fralia the good news. She seemed suspicious at first, but as soon as I relayed the specifics of Thorald's message to her, she seemed satisfied. As a reward, she presented me with a stamina-draining greatsword forged by Eorlund himself. After passing on the message, I made straight for the forge at Warmaiden's and used it to smith myself a fine suit of armour in the Orsimer style. Unfortunately I still lack the materials needed to refine and complete the set - hopefully I will soon come by more Orichalcum on my travels.

The conflict at Northwatch Keep has served to remind me that I've been neglecting my arcane abilities of late, and so to put this right, I've elected to spend some time at the College of Winterhold in the coming days. Before leaving Whiterun, I returned to Dragonsreach for one last meeting with Farengar, who was kind enough to sell me some more advanced spell tomes from the Destruction school at very reasonable prices. With these stronger spells in my armoury, I left Whiterun and spent the remainder of the evening trekking to Winterhold, arriving there just before nightfall. I have booked a room at the Frozen Hearth, and intend to enrol formally at the College tomorrow. Until then,

Ever Honest,

Lenah'd Retsmek

---

Previous Episodes

• Day Twenty-One - Whiterun Errands and a Missing Gray-Mane
• Day Twenty - Search for the White Phial
• Day Nineteen - Siding With the Stormcloaks
• Day Eighteen - Two Sides of the Same Septim
• Day Seventeen - Tracking the Telvanni Line
• Day Sixteen - Finding Lost Books and Lost Words
• Day Fifteen - The Axe and the Masque
• Day Fourteen - A Daedra and His Dog
• Day Thirteen - Treason and Betrayal
• Day Twelve - Counsel from the Greybeards
• Day Eleven - Old Towns, New Faces
• Day Ten - New Thu'um, New House
• Day Nine - Retrieving the Star
• Day Eight - Azura's Champion
• Day Seven - Wuuthrad and Werewolves
• Day Six - Kynareth's Will Be Done?
• Day Five - The Companions and the Sleeping Tree
• Day Four - Duelling With a Dragon
• Day Three - The Bandit, the Wife and Her Lover
• Day Two - The Golden Claw
• Day One - Escape from Helgen
• Day Zero - Here Begins My Journal

I will be sad to see this series end. 
 
...365 days of Skyrim? Eh? Eh?

@Storms: I'll be sort of sad to see it come to an end as well, but I think come the end of the thirty days I'll also be happy to put it to rest. It's been a lot of fun to play and write, but it's also a huge time-sink - I've had to play around two and a half hours of Skyrim every day to come up with enough to write about, and then each episode usually takes about 90 minutes to 2 hours to write (I know it probably shouldn't, but I'm far too easily distracted when I write). That's four hours of every day - a sixth of my life for the last three weeks has been Skyrim-focused. Unfortunately, there's other stuff I should be focused on as well - I'm working on a novel, I have a lot of blog entries in reserve that I'd like to write and post both here and on my own personal blog, not to mention non-writing commitments like looking for work, practising and playing darts, and jamming with my new band.

All that being said, this has been a really positive experience for me. Being able to keep writing something every single day, irrespective of creative blocks and even illness, has proven to me that I'm capable of writing consistently and I really hope I can successfully transfer this over to my other creative endeavours (especially my novel, which has seriously suffered in the shadow of these blogs). And while my blogging travels through Skyrim will soon be ceasing, I'd love to do this at some point again in the future, with a different game. Perhaps towards the end of this year, I'll pick Morrowind back up and write something for that. Or maybe I'll move away from the Elder Scrolls series altogether and try it with something a little different.

I'm really sorry I won't be taking this Skyrim blog beyond thirty days, for you and me both. I hope you'll stick around for more of my blog content when the series ends (most of it is sorta good, I'd like to think). When I'm finally done with Skyrim, I've got a lot I'd like to say about it from a more conventional blogger's viewpoint. In the meantime, thanks for your constant readership, Storms. I hope you enjoy what's still to come of my month in Skyrim.