Author Topic: Sigyn's Journal - A Skyrim Tale  (Read 3608 times)

Lady Grey

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Sigyn's Journal - A Skyrim Tale
« on: January 30, 2016, 11:35:43 PM »
So I finally got to writing an entry for this!


Sigyn is a Nord female, travelling with Serana, a Volkihar vampire as a companion.


I decided to just jump straight into it, rather than writing any sort of introduction. I was assuming people reading would be familiar with the Elder Scrolls universe. :)




Lady Grey

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Re: Sigyn's Journal - A Skyrim Tale
« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2016, 11:36:48 PM »

Entry 1:

We'd spent the last few days travelling between the main cities of Skyrim, selling anything we did not want or need. Both of us being adept at crafting potions, this meant predominantly trading with alchemists across the holds of the region. We had just left Dawnstar, something of an artic wasteland in the north, and were headed towards Whiterun.
Our journey took us through steep valleys, around sheer cliff faces, across harsh snow-capped mountains.
Presently we looked south from one of these peaks.

'Is that a fort there?'
'You mean those buildings that the road runs through?'
'Yeah, I say fort because I'm sure I can see barricades...' I squinted, trying to make out tiny, ant-like figures in the distance. 'It looks inhabited. Can you see those soldiers?'
Serana frowned.
'It's somewhat - dilapidated looking - if it is inhabited...'
'The snow could be distorting it?' I sighed. 'Well, we've been off-road for long enough if you ask me. That is the way towards Whiterun.'
Serana shrugged.
'I guess you're right. Let's get going.'

We lightly jogged down the steep hillside, if only to keep momentum enough to prevent falling most of the way, and met with the road beneath. As we continued on, the fort loomed ahead. We were almost upon it when Serana spoke.
'Ah, I see what you mean now.'
'Sorry?'
'There's someone up there, look, on the battlements.'
I frowned.
'That's not an Imperial soldier...'
We both crouched, shrinking back behind a large boulder we'd passed a moment before. I studied the figure. She was female, and certainly didn't look well-kept enough to belong to any organised faction. Her armour was poor quality - made of fur perhaps? - and ill-fitting. She carried what looked to be a hunting bow, and a quiver of arrows were strapped to her back. I reached for my own bow. Serana looked at me.
'You think there's going to be trouble?'
'I don't know.'
We stood up again, looking at the road ahead.
'We could always go around the fort...'
'I think I'd rather not, it'll probably take long enough without a long-winded detour.' I chewed my lip. 'The path does run through the fort after all.'
Serana half-smiled.
'Well, either way, I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle. I'm right behind you.'

We strode on cautiously, and as silently as our footsteps would allow. I was now grateful for the thick blanket of snow that seemed to perpetually cover most of the Pale, as it helped to mute our movements.
We approached the main gate - for lack of a better word, for a gate there was not - miraculously without being spotted. The main body of the fort rose to our left, to our right was a small building - an inn, perhaps? Other than the whistling sound of the chill winds, it was very quiet. It occurred to me, however, that the thick white covering of snow was not only softening our movements.
'Fort... Dunstad.' Serana deciphered a weather-worn sign. Honestly, I couldn't recall the name. SUddenly, a sharp voice pierced the air.
'Is someone there?'
I heard a weapon being drawn, and automatically readied an arrow. Serana held her hands up before her. She was proficient with magic, and often opted to use it as her primary weapon over the ornate elven dagger she carried. I couldn't say I blamed her.

Dull thuds of footsteps descended steps from the battlements, but I could sense more than one hostile presence around us. Serana had run through the main gate, and in an instant icy blades shot from her hands. A body of a woman fell in front of the entrance, as a previously unseen man with a large battleaxe came charging toward us from another part of the fort. I wasted no time in drawing my arrow back, hitting him squarely in the chest. He fell to the ground before he had the chance to raise his weapon to either of us.

This confrontation was nothing Serana and I weren't used to. No sooner had each hidden opponent made themselves known to us, they were met with a well practised defence. Before long, no less than five attackers bodies scattered the fort's courtyard.
'Bandits.' Serana said this with distain. She looked up right, to the building we had assumed was an inn of some kind. 'Do you think there's anyone alive in there?'
There certainly was light coming from inside, but no noise, no indication that there was anyone at all there.
'We could look I suppose...' I could count on one hand the number of times we'd displaced bandits from a building they'd stolen, and found any survivors.
Tentatively, we eased the door open.

The room before us was deserted. A small bed was pushed against the wall to our right, the bar - totally devoid of any sign that people had been making merry there at all recently - was to our right. Between the two were a few small tables. The fire however, on the back wall in the centre, was still burning, as if it had been stoked only a short while ago. The wall sconces were also lit. I looked with a pang of sadness at the hearth - several pairs of imperial soldiers boots lay there, still warming, and yet there were none to wear them. Serana frowned.
'Huh...'
A shuffling noise from below us, followed by a drunken voice interrupted our train of thought.
'I tried telling him to hand over the gold, but would he listen? Oh no, they always have to fight back...'
We edged around towards, then behind the bar. A wooden staicase led to a basement. Of course there was going to be a basement, this was an inn, after all, I found myself thinking, shaking my head. Once again, I readied an arrow as I began to tip-toe down the steps, Serana close behind me.

Far enough down the stairs to see clearly into the basement, we came upon another two bandits, a male and a female, who, thankfully, were facing the opposite wall. Both were swaying slightly, clearly inebriated, and sighing heavily as the drink took its toll on them. I felt then the anger consume me. What had given these good-for-nothings the right to invade this place, no doubt murdering innocents along the way, and take it for themselves? Here they were sitting, drinking ale that never belonged to them, that they had no thought of ever paying for... I clenched my teeth, and with little hesitation, fired an arrow across the basement. It found its mark in the back of drunken man's skull.
I watched him slump forwards, satisfied, paying little attention to the woman beside him who, shocked, had made to stand.

As it happened, I didn't need to, for before she could take more than a couple of steps toward us, Serana's enchanted ice daggers had found her chest. She staggered and fell, and I saw the same satisfied look on my companion's face than I had felt myself a moment ago. I smiled to myself. Here the both of us were, a young Nord woman, looking for her place in the world, and a centuries old vampire - a Daughter of Coldharbour, no less - fighting as vigilantes side by side.

It was then that the back of the somewhat shadowy basement, we noticed a bed. My heart missed a beat - there was someone lying there. We silently moved across the floor towards him. I prepared to raise my bow once more, but -
'No, I think he's...'
Serana didn't have to finish her sentence. The man lying there was cold, a dried, bloodied wound across his neck. In that moment I couldn't have been more glad we'd killed his assailants.
Serana laid out his body in as dignified as a manner as she could, even trying to clean the wound, or at least cover it somewhat, while I searched the room for any clue of who he could have been. He was clearly the innkeep, of course, but there was nothing anywhere to tell us who he really was, whether he had any family. I sighed.

Serana had finished, and we made our way back up to the main room of the inn, saddened, but doing our best to brush it off, as we had many times before, and no doubt would have to again.
As we went out into the cold courtyard once more, we looked up at the fort before us. It was, as Serana had said, dilapidated. Who knew when it had last been occupied by anyone who truly was meant to be there?
'Do you think there's more in there? Bandits, I mean?' Serana asked
'I- I don't know.' I bit my lip. 'And I don't care. I think we should carry on to Whiterun.' Even I noted the bitterness in my voice. Serana brushed my arm, and half smiled.
'I'm right behind you.'

Clockwork

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Re: Sigyn's Journal - A Skyrim Tale
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2016, 09:48:41 AM »
This is great, I love that you used lines said in the game :D
Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.


Lady Grey

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Re: Sigyn's Journal - A Skyrim Tale
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2016, 10:57:11 AM »
Thank you :)


I wrote it pretty late last night, so I'm still cringing at the ending :P

Clockwork

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Re: Sigyn's Journal - A Skyrim Tale
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2016, 11:01:02 AM »
Oh, no, keep it as it is!
Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.


Jubal

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Re: Sigyn's Journal - A Skyrim Tale
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2016, 03:28:31 PM »
I've not played Skyrim (heresy, I know) but nonetheless I enjoyed this :)
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...