After ditching my loyal nordic companion, I set out down the hill before me, heading more or less towards an intriguing marker on my all-knowing magic compass. Three standing stones, bonus experience. Nice! The obvious choice is the Mage's Stone, blessing my intelligence allowing me to master magic faster. I think I feel some real character progression coming on...
With my prisonbreak adventure behind me, the world feels open and full of possibility. I'm not really sure where to go, but I should probably try to locate a few more spells, and the simplest way to do that is to visit a trader who should be able to sell me the basics. In the distance I can see the roofs, so I head off to the east.
My magic compass tells me there's a mine nearby, but there's an ominous looking fellow guarding the entrance... maybe I'll come back later.
I pass a pack of wolves who seem quite preoccupied chasing down a cute little orange fox. Dropping into a squat in the middle of the road apparently does nothing to conceal my presence and they attack! Fortunately there's three of them. I can work with numbers! I cast fury on two of them and they turn on each other. All I need to do now is stand back and watch them finish each other off. My plan is totally working... until there's one left standing. There appears to be a consistent flaw in my approach. There's only one solution.
RUN!
I high tail it down the road, burning through my stamina managing to keep just ahead of the snapping jaws of the wolf behind me. I see a wall protecting a settlement. There's an old woman... Thank Akatosh, a guard! Help me!
The guard runs up and makes short work of the wolf. As relief washes over me and my heart rate slows I take a moment to examine my surroundings. Riverwood this place is called, and it's as quaint as its name suggests. Near the wood mill is nordic woman who looks a little familiar. She introduces herself and then Ralof is right there! Where did he come from?? It turns out that this is where he told me to go after we escaped from the dragon earlier. His sister says something about warning the Jarl of Whiterun? I don't know what a Jarl or a Whiterun is and to be honest I'm not really paying attention. The dragon is gone, I'm not sure why everybody is so worried. In the centre of the little settlement there's a cranky old woman also croaking about dragons, a smithy and Oh! A trader! Called... the Riverwood Trader. Inventive. I head over to sell what I can.
The imaginative store owner is named Lucan Valerius, who is in middle of an argument with his sister when I awkwardly barge in. I'm not really sure whether to interrupt or shuffle uncomfortably in the doorway until it's over. I wait until a break in the conversation and interject as politely as I can. I ask him if he has any spells, also if he's interested in the weapons and armour of several fallen Imperial soldiers. He buys everything I can spare and in return I purchase a handful of new tricks.
Armed with a couple of good ones, including magic armour and the power to raise the dead, I head back to the mine I skipped earlier. The bandit is still on guard, but this time I hit him with a fury spell. I probably could have just poked my tongue out at him, since there's no one else for him to assault, but it's good practise. Now, time for my master plan...
I run back down the road to where the wolves had killed each other before. Time to try this new spell... It works brilliantly! He gets up a little slowly considering there's an angry Redguard smashing me with a two-handed sword, but once he's up, he does me proud. In what's becoming a familiar routine, I just hang back and let the battle unfold. Everything seems to be going well until the wolf suddenly collapses into a pile of ash. I guess I can't keep recycling these corpses... Shame. The bandit looks pretty badly hurt, but not enough to stop him from chasing after me again. Fortunately there's the other wolf nearby, so I resurrect him to finish off the bandit. It doesn't take long, and wolfy is still standing! With my new companion at my side we head back to the mine to take on whatever is inside.
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