Nice one McBadgere; Shaade sounds quite lethal already, it seems!
In other news, started a new game as
Aranios Sayl, a thief, rogue and gentleman of fortune (handsome devil, ain't he?). I'll be relating his (mis?)adventures in journal style, as is the popular manner, and I'll admit I'm already having a lot of fun with him.
Extract from the Journal of Aranios Sayl; Gentleman of fortune, and somehow hero of Skyrim for reasons that still escape me to this day
Day 1
Either I am a very lucky man or there is someone up there making fun of me right now. Possibly both.
My first day in Skyrim started with me on a cart bound for Skyrim's border town of Helgen for the rather unfortunate ultimate destination of the headsman's block. I, once again victim to the harsh, reactionary and biased 'justice' of the Empire or the Thalmor or whoever runs this place nowadays, was on my way to be killed for reasons that were entirely unreasonable; I swear to you now that the Count of Bruma's daughter made no mention of her heritage and if she had I wouldn't have even gone near. If you ask me, it's
she that's the one deserving execution, not I. But I digress.
I was thoroughly miserable as we departed, and I was all for legging it like that horse thief with us before he took more arrows in him than was good for a person. The Stormcloak with us, some lump who was all for honour and glory and that rot suggested that we should face our deaths like men, an idea that did not sit comfortably with me; I've never faced anything like a man before and facign death like one is certainly not a good place for an amateur to start, seeing as it's generally a good idea to walk before you run and all that.
I was on the block when a third party intervened in my execution and saved my hide. Normally I'd be rejoicing about such a thing, but this was a mixed blessing. The reason for that was simlpe; the third party was, of all things, an eight-damned dragon. And I'll admit that, when it came into view, I may have done somethign that my mother had taught me not to do when I was two.
In the confusion, I managed to leg it and ended up running through the castle with an Imperial named Hadvar, a member of the Legion, of all things. Now I know it sounds strange for me to go with someone who was collaborating in chopping my head off, but frankly when there's a dragon flying around outside and someone's holding a door open into a big, secure castle made of solid stone you're not really in a position to be choosy. I mean, the man could have been a deranged, murderous leper and I'd have found him preferble to a dragon.
We made our way through several caves, and managed to finally get out despite the intervention of several spiders, some Stormcloaks and having to slip past a bear (got their venom from their fangs, which should come in handy). Eventually we made our way to daylight, and after that we reached Riverwood, a fairly backwards and unexciting place but, fortunately, it had an inn and a store where I was able to sell some of the weapons I'd taken off the dead in return for some arrows and healing potions. Hadvar said that it would be best if I made my way to Whiterun to warn Jarl Balgruff of our slight dragon problem, and I decided to get that done tomorrow; I'd had quite enough for today.
Hadvar suggested I join the Legion, and while I'm not normally inclined towards siding with people who try to kill me or all that interested in general soldiering, I need some Septims and I suppose there are worse ways to chat up wenches than saying you're a soldier. I'll give it a thought, if they'll take someone like me.
Day 3
I didn't warn the Jarl, in the end.
I'm in Riften at the moment, and the reasons for this are fairly simple. I got as far as the gate (narrowly avoided being savaged by a pack of wolves on the way) and bumped into some Khajiit camped outside. One of them mentioned the Thieves Guild were operating outside of Riften, and so I figured that the best thing to do would be to check that out if I wanted some coin. So I got a nearby cart, not wanting a repeat incident of my run-in with those wolves, and arrived in the city.
Ran into a fellow named Brynjolf there who offered me some work, namely planting a ring on a Wood Elf. That sort of thing was right up my street, and I managed to rob some Argonian dry in the meantime, and after the deed was done he said to meet him down in the 'Ratway'. Not quite sure what it was, but apparently it was dangerous so I left the city to build my funds hunting and getting some better equipment. Managed to clear out a cave full of wolves and accidentally picked a fight with a horse which I nearly didn't walk away from; the damn thing just wouldn't die.
In any case, I managed to survive, knocked together some bracers to sell and managed to scrape together some cash. I'm sticking aroudn Riften at the moment, buying and selling at the moment, and seeing what will hit me next.
Life for Aranios Sayl has become rather interesting, it seems...