Yes, I realize I forgot to turn off the crosshairs when I took these pictures. So deal with it

At first I became aware of what seemed like drops of water falling on me. I then became aware of a sharp ringing sound which encased my entire head. After seeming to wake from unconsciousness, I felt a brilliantly intense pain and throbbing in my temples.. as I tried to wake up. After I opened my eyes the outdoor light seemed only to intensify the pain I was feeling at the time.

After squinting it seemed that the pain lost its intensity. Willing myself to sit up, I looked around to discover that I was surrounded by several stone and wood buildings, some of which burned to the ground, others on fire. The billowing smoke from several of these buildings served as a blanket, covering the sky.

As my head cleared, I pondered what I was doing here. I couldn't remember anything that had taken place. My entire memory of past events was a blur. All I remembered was that I had woken up from what seemed to be a catastrophic disaster.

I then realized my hands were bound. Too frightened to try to remember why that was, I got up and scampered around. I entered what appeared to be a stone tower with a stair case leading to a balcony on top. On a table at the bottom of the tower I found a dagger sitting there, which I used to be advantage to free my hands.



Still I had absolutely no way of remembering anything that had happened before. I didn't remember my name, my age, my family, friends.. where I was, or even what I was. All I remembered was waking up to a completely destroyed village.

I approached a completely destroyed cart nearby with an unlocked box just sitting there. My conscious seemed to tell me that this chest belonged to someone, but I ignored what seemed to be my better judgment, and opened the box. I found several gold coins and slabs of dried, uncooked meat. I sat down on the box and examined the gold coins.

The head of the coin read..

The empire is law.. the law is sacred

It seemed to have the face of somebody on it. Upon examining the tail of the coin, I found it read..

Praise be, Akatosh, and all the divines.

It appeared to have what looked like a seal, depicting a dragon.

I tried my hardest to remember something.. to try and understand what this seal meant and who Akatosh was.. but I simply couldn't. It was as if someone completely erased all memories from my mind.

Basic thoughts did come back to me. I realized that the sky was darkening and that the night was approaching. I was only wearing rags, and was only carrying a dagger, some gold coins, and a few slabs of meat.

After wandering around the village for a while I came to an open gate which gave way to a cobblestone path. It certainly wouldn't be safe to stay in that village overnight, and the sky grew darker and cloudier and fear soon started sinking in. While I walked down the path I started getting chills and a feeling that I was being watched.. by something. I was surrounded by snowy forests, mountains, and boulders lining a cobblestone road, and all I heard was the wind rushing and the crickets high up in the trees. By now the rain had stopped, also.



After several minutes I felt as if I was running away from something and that something was right behind me. As I continued running it seemed as if those feelings had dissipated.. and I was growing exhausted, so I slowed to a walk. Further down the seemingly endless trail I approached a crossroad situated on the top of a cliff. At the bottom of this cliff there seemed to be a river and even thicker pine forest. I seemed to remember at that time that water was a basic necessity for life. I had no idea how long it had been since I ate or drank anything, so I cautiously descended down the cliff.



I feared heavily that I would be lost, and it would be impossible to climb the cliff again. I was surrounded by wilderness.. and darkness continued approaching. After a little bit of traversing this forest I found another one of these trails that seemed to snake alongside the river. I knew these would come out somewhere, hopefully somewhere safe, like another village. I felt relieved as I continued down in one direction on this path, wondering if I had made the right choice. Would this path take me somewhere dangerous? Would it take hours or even days to actually end up somewhere? Would I encounter anyone or anything along the way? And what would those things be like?

After an hour of walking discouragement completely overcame me. I felt hopeless.. alone.. as nothing was around, at all. Just me, a few stolen belongings and the rags I was wearing. I proceeded to sit down to take a break from walking and to get a drink of water. I then heard a distant howling.. which I immediately recognized.

Wolves.

Fearing for my life at the same time I was ready to let go of it, I trudged down the path holding my dagger as a precaution. The howling sound I had heard just minutes ago returned except was much louder and seemed to come from down the path. I stopped as I heard barking and saw black shadows charging at me. Immediately pulling out my dagger, I attacked the wolf the best I could while dodging his attacks. I eventually landed a hit in his neck which instantly killed him.



I felt proud and frightened at the same time. Fearing more wolves I trudged down the path as tree shadows grew longer and made the trail increasingly dark.

I soon approached what looked like walls and an opened gate. Inside these walls were several buildings, trees, lanterns, and a few people outside, all of which took a look at me for a second and went on with their business.



I cautiously read the signs hanging off poles outside some of these buildings. They appeared to be things like a blacksmith's, a general store, and an inn. I went inside the inn and was greeted by a friendly woman who offered me a room... for a cost. I counted my gold coins and surprisingly I could easily afford to stay overnight. After the innkeeper guided me into my room I sat down on the bed inside and tried once more to think of what happened, but I still couldn't. At this point I got angry, at myself, and at the world in general, as I was so desperate for answers.

I went back out into the lobby and asked the innkeeper where I was.

"Riverwood, of course", replied the innkeeper.
"Well, I.."
"Were you in Helgen?"
"I don't even know where Helgen is.. or what it is.. I don't remember anything. I just remember following a road to get here."
"You actually survived the dragon attack?"
"Um.. dragon attack?"
"Of course.. the imperials were attempting to execute Imperial rebels, when a dragon just attacked. There hasn't even been a sighting of a dragon in thousands of years, how could this be?"
"I'm sorry, but I have no idea who Imperials are, who these rebels are, and what all took place."
"Well, it'd be pointless trying to explain right now. Get some sleep, and we'll talk tomorrow. You probably took a hard blow to the head."

I felt a little bit happier knowing what took place even though I didn't have a clue of what these things are.. what the Imperials are.. who and what these rebels are and what they did to deserve execution, what this dragon is and why it attacked.

Extremely fatigued I got in bed and was asleep in seconds.

Nice Story

I like Skyrim Graphics!

Great Storyline

As I awoke I found myself laying in a straw bed in a wooden room. For a second I didn't know where I was, but I then realized what had taken place yesterday. I strained again to remember what happened before yesterday but, still, my memory only extended to the time I woke up.

Remembering that the innkeeper had promised to relate to what she told me last night, I got up and asked again who the Imperials are, who these rebels are and why they were being executed.

"Well, the imperials are a culture of people native to Cyrodiil. You're probably more interested in the Imperial Legion however."
"Which is...?"
"The Imperial Legion is at odds with the Stormcloaks.. basically a civil war. The Imperials are fighting for Skyrim to remain a part of Tamriel.. the empire. The legion has been reduced drastically, however it once was the most powerful force in all of Tamriel."
"What is Tamriel?"
"Tamriel is the continent on which we all live, located on the planet Nirn. It consists of nine provinces, one of those being Skryim."
"I gather we're in Skyrim?"
"Indeed."
"So what is this civil war all about? Why are the imperials and stormcloaks at odds?"
"The imperial legion wants Skyrim to remain a part of the empire. The stormcloaks want to liberate Skyrim. To go into more detail about the execution yesterday, the imperials managed to capture Ulfric Stormcloak, the leader of the stormcloaks, obviously. However it seemed the dragon attack occurred right as they were about to execute him."
"And you say these dragons haven't even been sighted in thousands of years?"
"Correct."
"The odds are too extreme for it to be coincidence.. do these dragons have a sort of soul?"
"Yes, they do."
"I'm listening.."
"A dragon can physically die, but his soul remains. All it would take is for Alduin, the "chief" dragon, to revive the dragon's soul and raise it from the dead."
"So basically there's no way to eliminate these dragons?"
"Only by absorbing the dragon's soul can they be permanently eliminated."

At this point I began wondering if this whole dragon story was a spoof. It seemed to involve too much magic, which I never truly thought was real. But having no memory of anything that had taken place before the dragon attack, I couldn't know for sure, so I listened on."

"An individual called the Dragonborn is able to absorb a dragon soul. It's an extremely amazing honor."
"Let me guess, nobody knows who the Dragonborn is or where he is?"
"Exactly."
"Anyway, about the execution.."
"Oh, yes. Ulfric was being brought in along with a horse thief, a stormcloak soldier and some Nord wearing rags. As far as the Nord goes, they didn't know who he was, at all. The imperials simply ordered him executed."
"What did Ulfric do to deserve execution?"
"He murdered the high king... using the voice. Basically just shouted him into pieces."
"Well, okay then.. I'm wearing rags.. but what is a Nord?"
"Nords are native inhabitants of Skryim. Funny that a Nord looks a lot like yourself."
"Um..."
"Wait, were you the one they were trying to execute?"
"I wouldn't know.. I just woke up to find I was laying in the middle of a village that had just burned down. Absolutely nobody was around."
"A nagging suspicion tells me you were. Don't worry about it though, people are probably too caught up in the attack right now. That, and you didn't do anything to deserve execution."
"So they're just going to behead me for no reason?"
"Well, Whiterun nor Riverwood have taken sides with either the imperials or the stormcloaks. But it was definitely unfair."
"Whiterun...?"
"Whiterun is a large city north of here. It's about a three hour walk."
"Do you think there's anything there that would help me?"
"Probably not, but you should report this to Jarl Balgruff, who is the ruler of Whiterun. I'm sure he would help you out and give you something to do if you did."
"Well, alright. Thank you very much, I appreciate your help."
"Anytime. Feel free to come back."

I was mixed as far as opinion went. The imperials attempted to execute me even though I supposedly did no wrong, but Ulfric murdered the high king. I wasn't going to side with anyone anyway.

I set off north toward Whiterun and encountered simply beautiful natural wonders along the way. The foggy bridge seemed to stir up deeply embedded thoughts in my mind, somehow, thoughts that seemed out of place.



As soon as I crossed the bridge these thoughts turned strangely vivid and the execution that had taken place suddenly made a weird kind of sense.









I was deep in thought as memories just started coming back to me. It seemed though that I absolutely couldn't remember anything else that took place. I couldn't remember what anyone said, where I was, who anyone was..

Somehow I felt a strange connection with a nearby mountain that I was walking past as a picture of a dragon landing on a stone tower came to my mind. The connection seemed like an energy of some kind.. just coming from the top of that mountain. I ignored it however, as the sight of a walled city, almost a fortress came into sight.



Upon entering the city I found lush, beautiful trees and stone paths, several shops and buildings with a huge fortress on top of a hill as a backdrop.



I stopped to talk to one of the locals to find out where I could find Balgruff.

"Excuse me, where can I speak of Jarl Balgruff?"
"Wow, prestigious. You don't look the type though."
"Sorry, it's just.."
"No need to explain. We welcome people of all kinds here. You can find the Jarl up in Dragonsreach."
"Which is where?"
"Dragonsreach is that big fortress you see in the distance. Ask to talk to Jarl Balgruff."
"Okay, thanks. I have information about the dragon attack in Helgen."
"Well, that explains why the guards let you in. It's very urgent, you should get there as fast as possible."
"Thank you for your time."

Upon entering Dragonsreach I told Balgruff all that the innkeeper had told me back in Riverwood. It seemed desperately urgent to the people within the fortress.

"So, you have information from Helgen?"
"Yes. I observed it as the Imperials were attempting to execute me."
"Wait.. what?"
"Yes, they just tried to execute me although I had done no wrong."
"I don't know if I can believe that or not, but it doesn't matter right now."
"I blacked out during the attack, so I couldn't tell where it went."
"That just means more trouble then. Anyway, who else were they trying to execute?"
"Ulfric Stormcloak and a stormcloak soldier."
"I figured he would be involved in this."
"I thought you were neutral on the matter?"
"I am.. but.. oh well. Not even our soldiers or walls would be able to withstand a dragon attack. We must prepare as fast as possible in case it happens again. Thank you so much for your information."

Balgruff and his stewards seemed to frantically argue and discuss as I left Dragonsreach. I looked out toward that same mountain. There it was again. That energy.

Wow, I like it

D:

Loving everything

the storyline is great

This is fantastic. What beautiful and lush landscape.

thank you all

ENTRY 3

Not knowing what to do, I stepped back inside Dragonsreach to see if the Jarl wanted me to do anything. Turns out that he wanted me to speak to the court wizard, he was the one researching these dragons, how they were being revived, and what they wanted with us. It would be interesting to see what was going on, so I went into his room to talk to him.

"So what do you think of the dragons returning? Why do you think they've returned?"
"I unfortunately can't answer that question. I just find it amazing that after thousands of years, we thought they were extinct. And now they're all returning."
"Would it have to do with Ulfric Stormcloak.. and his execution?"
"Oh, I knew Ulfric would have something to do with this. Sticking his nose where it doesn't belong."
"Well, okay..."
"I'd highly doubt that they're returning for Ulfric. If they were, he wouldn't be dead right now. These things aren't just animals.. they're spirits.. spirits beyond our control."
"Except he managed to escape when the dragon attacked Helgen. I found it interesting that it was right at the time of the execution."
"So you and him and the Imperial leaders managed to escape... but nobody else?"
"Um.. I guess so"
"This is ridiculous. I simply don't understand what is going on here."
"You think you don't understand? I was unconscious for seemingly hours and I woke up with complete amnesia. Maybe you could tell me what's going on here."
"I already said that I don't know. Life was just fine.. well, except for the war of course."
"I was told about the war. What does that have to do with dragons?"
"Probably nothing. Unless they're out to defend Ulfric... but I doubt that's the case."
"Okay, look. I don't know what I'm going to do here. You've got to help me out."
"Well, you look the type that could take down a dragon. Maybe you could go into Bleak Falls Barrow and retrieve an artifact for me."
"What?"
"Bleak Falls Barrow.. on that mountain to the right of The Throat of the World"
"Look, I already said I don't remember anything. Why don't you try explaining some of this stuff to me?"
"*sigh*.. it's that big tall mountain that you must have walked past on your way here."

At this point I remembered that this mountain was the one where this energy of some kind was coming from. I would be deathly scared to go there, but I knew I wasn't, so I listened in on what Bleak Falls Barrow was.

"It's a cavern and ancient burial site on that mountain. I lived on the foot of that mountain once. Every night I would dream of dragurs and skeletons crawling out of the mountain and into my window. It gave me nightmares of all kinds."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"Get inside the barrow.. the entrance is where all those stone posts are located. It was also a large temple for ancient Nords to worship the dragons."
"What am I going after?"
"An ancient artifact.. called the Dragonstone. Looks like an old stone tablet. Just grab that, get out of there, and bring it back to me."
"I'll see what I can do."
"Alright, just be careful of the dragurs. You look the type that could handle them though."

Figuring dragurs were some ancient zombie like creature I set off from Whiterun as the sun began setting. I felt the strange energy grow as I approached The Throat of the World.. but I knew I wasn't going there so I just ignored it.



After several tedious hours of walking I began climbing the foot of this mountain when the temple came into view. It seemed to have its own energy, a powerful one that I simply couldn't understand."



I continued climbing higher until I approached some stone house with its windows broken and doors removed. At this point a heavy snow began falling, and darkness surrounded me, and I had no source of light. I began hearing a mumbling as my heart started racing.

Something was inside this house.

Three people came scrambling outside, all obviously with the intent to kill me. I was going to run but something kept me from doing so.. all I could do was draw my weapon.. and fight. To my amazement I managed to kill each of them. After looking them over they appeared to be bandits, so I felt like I was doing something good.



I tried running further up the mountain afterwards but it was getting too dark and the snowfall obstructed my vision. I had no choice but to stay inside the house at this point. Then I saw something over one of the hills.

Again, forgot to turn off the crosshairs.

I woke up to the wind howling and I discovered that it was still freezing cold, however not to as bad of an extent as it had been last night. Sunlight was glistening in through the cracks in this boarded fortress letting me know that it was past dawn.

Stepping outside I realized that the winter storm that had been taking place when I fell asleep still hadn't passed. Looking ahead of me I saw two dead bodies which startled me greatly at first, then within a second I realized that they were the enemies that I had defeated last night.



I was a reddish colour due to the cold weather and I knew that if I were to be more comfortable and to prevent myself from further hypothermia I would need the fur clothing that they possessed. I wore my light studded armor over the fur clothing.

As I approached the entrance to the cavern I heard voices, which no doubt were from even more bandits.

I was amazed to find that I almost instantly defeated all three of them on the steps, had I not been in danger of something potentially greater I would wonder how this was possible.



I walked up to the entrance which was blocked by a huge forged iron door. I mustered every ounce of strength to be able to pull the door open. The interior definitely wasn't welcoming, it was much colder than the outside with only a faint light from the surface shining in.



Not far into the cavern I encountered more bandits, which, after prevailing over, I discovered one of their treasure chests. Inside I found several gold coins and other articles that would be of use, such as lock picks.



As I walked I didn't encounter any other threats, but I knew that I would have to react quickly, because the cavern got so dark that I couldn't see my own hands in front of me, except for the dim glow of a lit candle. This candle indicated that someone was here, I just had no idea where.



The thought of something lurking in the absolute darkness gave me chills, but I managed to summon the courage to continue on. It wasn't long until I found a partially lit room with another bandit, which I defeated. This one was carrying an article of most value to me - a lit torch. This would definitely help me to see what was going on in that cavern, for the price of easily revealing myself.

A gate lay in front of me with a lever on the ground. Instinct had me pull that lever, and I was presented with a shower of arrows from holes in the wall, each narrowly missing me. I looked above and found several carvings in stone, two snakes and a fish, and to my left were three pillars that stood about my height. This immediately gave me an idea of how to open the gate. I turned the pillars to correspond to the carvings on the wall above the gate, and sure enough, the gate opened after pulling the lever.



Not much further into my journey I encountered the sound of a loud, deranged hissing with yelling in the background. Immediately dropping my torch and pulling out my greatsword I proceeded to attempt to defeat the largest beast I've ever encountered, something which I thought would only be found in dreams.



Struggling and taking a few painful bites from the monster I took a swift swipe to his head which ultimately killed the monster. After sitting for a few minutes I heard a faint voice in the background. Walking toward this voice I soon found myself in front of a person entangled in sticky spider web.


Demanding that I cut him loose, I did so, but immediately slew him, because for all I cared he was simply another bandit. I felt compelled for some reason to search him for anything that might be of use. In doing so I found a large chunk of gold in the shape of a claw. I immediately knew that if I presented this to a shopkeeper back in town, I may be able to make a fortune, so I held onto this extremely valuable article.

I then proceeded to sit down for a bit, albeit on very high guard, because the battle with the monster that had taken place minutes before had greatly tired me and I was feeling slightly lightheaded from it. Not before long I fell asleep on the hard stone ground.