Thread: Adventures in Skyrim (Grave and Nico)

Gold-Heart followed the rocky trail down the slope and through an archway as he left Solitude. The path continued into the wild, with large trees all around him and jutting rocks to his right, one of which formed an overhang over the road. He continued to follow the road until it linked up with another one, though this one had no destination specified by the road sign. Gold-Heart knew that he needed to continue bearing west, so he took the unmarked road. He passed a company of armored warriors that he believed to be Stormcloaks as he went, but they paid him no mind and were soon behind him going the opposite way. It got snowier as he went along, to the point that the road was almost completely obscured. As the path took a turn and a dip, he saw something brown and lumbering off to the side. He recognized it as a common troll by its ape-like gait, and knew this could be trouble. He drew his sword and watched as it jumped up and down and snarled, perhaps letting him know that it was going to be aggressive. Gold-Heart was fair with a blade, but this would be his first life-or-death battle. He eased into his fighting stance and gripped his shield tightly, doing his best to steel himself for the clash. The creature began bounding toward him, white fangs glistening in the sun. When it was within range, it swung out with its right arm in an arc that would send its razor-sharp claws ripping across his chest. Its reach was as good as his with a sword, and though his first instinct was to jump back to dodge it, he knew this would be the wrong move. He could not afford to fight this thing from medium range, since it was stronger than him and could go the distance in a long battle. He stepped back a bit to let the strike go by, then pressed in close to limit its movement. Gold-Heart was not very knowledgeable about troll anatomy, but if it was humanoid, as he suspected it was, he was vulnerable along his side. With a mix of nervousness and determination, he ran his sword deep into its side. The troll screamed in pain and anger, and began thrashing a bit. Keeping his focus on his own offense despite the distraction, he repeatedly stabbed it as quickly and deeply as he could. It finally pushed him away with a back-hand swipe, and he could tell by its knees that it was wobbly. Since there would never be a better opportunity to finish the fight, Gold-Heart pressed in again and ran his sword deeply into its throat. The creature jerked and spasmed in pain and resistance, but he shoved it in deeper, which took all of the fight out of him. When he removed the sword, the troll fell back and laid dead on the ground. Gold-Heart cleaned his sword off and sheathed it, feeling happy to be alive but also a bit sorry for the creature. He continued down the path, and the snow turned to verdant grass. He took another turn on the road heading west and came face-to-face with a bandit. He drew his sword and cut him down before taking a sack of gold, a hunter's bow, and some iron arrows off of him. Proceeding down the road, Gold-Heart saw the glittering sea off to his right and thought that it was quite beautiful. Here the road moved past the fort, so he had to carefully pick his way down the slope to his destination. At last he had made his way to the fort. As he stepped into the gate, he saw some bodies strewn about. Some of them were dressed in the leather and iron of bandits, while others were wearing Elven armor. It seemed to him that a bandit party had tried to raid this fort and some had been stopped here in the courtyard. Whether the Elves had repelled the bandits or whether the ruffians had triumphed, he knew that he had to be careful in this place. Gold-Heart opened the double doors to the fort and carefully proceeded inside.