Year of the RPG: Letter from a Friend, part III

It had been awhile since her last letter. She was very happy, then, when a messenger arrived and handed her a sealed letter, offered greetings from Legate Ra’zirr, bowed, and left. 

Wait… Legate Ra’zirr?

She tore the letter open and began to read.

To Athena, greetings and salutations,

It seems my last letter was the lull before the storm. After I send the messenger to you, I was called to meet Kodlak, leader of the Companions. He appeared suspicious of some of my activities, but didn’t press for information. Instead, he expressed concerns about his werewolf blood and asked me to eliminate a coven of witches for him, believing them to be connected to the curse, as he calls it.

Lydia and I thus departed.

I have great respect for my horse after that journey.

I checked in with Legate Rikke in order to report back from my last assignment. She let me know that they were planning their final siege against Ulfric Stormcloak, and that I was to report to Windhelm in a week’s time, after rescuing some of her men from a nearby fort.

After that, I took a detour to find out more about Alduin, and how to best Shout and rend him from the sky, which brought me to the College of Winterhold, where the mages study. I was initially not allowed to cross the bridge, but after a demonstration of my dragonborn abilities, I was led across politely.

It was very beautiful there… A cold, sad sort of beauty.

But at any rate, after speaking with the surly librarian, I found information about something called the Elder Scroll, which is necessary for my pursuits. Apparently, a Shout was developed by humans in the distant past that enabled them to pull Alduin from the sky and send him into the future. I imagine that even if I am not able to defeat Alduin, pushing him further into the future would also effectively end the concern, at least for the duration of my lifetime. After all, the savior of the world is sure to enjoy a fair amount of advancement in the society, whether or not he actually rids the world of the dragon or just pushes it far enough away that he can live his life out in peace.

At this point, I realize I misinterpreted some of my information, and trekked out to the outermost rim of Skyrim to find a man named Septimus. At first, I thought the crazy fool was helping me in his quest, and so I spent a few days running around completing errands for him, but it turns out that he serves a druid, and he was merely seeking to be more powerful than he already was.

This particular druid said that he would prefer to abandon Septimus, as he was no longer useful, and instead attach himself to me. But I am not stupid. The promise of personal power is tempting, but at the cost of my freedom? I wish to wield my own power, and not be beholden to some unseen spirit. Some may call me self-serving, but I see myself as pragmatic.

At any rate, one good thing that came out of my meanderings is that I was lead to where the Elder Scroll was kept. After figuring out the mechanism hiding it, it appeared, and I took it for myself.

I am sure I am violating some mumbo-jumbo rule, but this is the Elder Scroll. Don’t look at it too long, as I would prefer you don’t go blind, but I suppose it is possible that the rules of the Elder Scrolls do not apply to you?

At this point, I should mention to you that Delphine is not speaking to me, as she wishes for me to kill Paarthurnax, because he is a dragon, and was, at one time, in the service of Alduin. I tried to reason with her, but she was resolute. It is a shame, because I quite liked the idea of having an order of warriors at my service, but apparently their devotion to killing dragons is stronger than their devotion to the dragonborn.

Instead of taking the Elder Scroll to them, or anyone else, I brought it to Paarthurnax. I figured that, in his dragon longevity, he would have perspective that none other could offer.

I… cannot describe what happened. I believe I saw the past, and watched Alduin be thrown into the future. I could feel the power around me, and suddenly I instinctively new the shout to pull a dragon from the sky.

After the vision ended, there was hardly time to think, as Alduin was upon us. Paarthurnax fought alongside us, and I found I was able to Shout Alduin from the sky. Eventually he retreated, and Paarthurnax told me that I would need to challenge him in his very home. To do that, I would need to trap another dragon and pry information from it.

On the way back to Whiterun, I decided to handle the coven of witches that Kodlak has asked me to take care of. He only needed one of the heads, but I decided if I was there, and if the witches truly were as big of a bane as he made them sound, then I should eliminate all of them in order to avoid them taking revenge. It was… disgusting.

I returned to Whiterun, only to find out that the Companions had been attacked at Kodlak murdered! The others half-heartedly blamed me for not being there, but it seemed that their grief was driving their words. I was asked to go through his things and find the remaining shard of an eons-old weapon that Aela and I had tried to recover, and I found his journal. With a glance behind me, I read it. Apparently, Kodlak had a dream about my arrival, and believed me to be of the right stock to take control of the Companions. I was stuck.

One one hand, I had irrefutable proof that I was to become their leader, and on the other hand, I would have been caught for my snooping. I decided to hold on to this knowledge until later.

The funeral was somber, and the weapon was reforged. Kodlak’s wish was to no longer be a werewolf, and so I followed some of the others to… an old temple of some sort, built by the Companions. We ran across the entire country. Ran. I suggested we hire a cart, but was outvoted.

So instead we opened ourselves up to attacks. An assassin tried to kill me; this is about the fifth time this has happened, and I wish I could figure out who wants me dead so badly. Four times it was an assassin trying to kill me, and this time the person called me a thief. I am disgusted. I would never steal anything. And I remember this man. He worked in a sawmill I thought was abandoned. I did not take anything from him. We will have to work out our disagreement the next time I see him.

Anyway, after returning the ax to a statue in the foyer of the Companion’s burial site, we fought our way through ghosts and spiders until we came to Kodlak. Why are there always large spiders? What do these things eat?

I say “we” fought our way, and yet I mean Aela and I. The two men who came with us – I will not even dignify them by writing their names – were too ashamed or afraid or cowardly to follow us. Where was Lydia? I had no idea what would await us, nor if she would be allowed to come with us, and so I asked her to stay at Breezehome.

At any rate, Aela and I found Kodlak and killed the spirit of the beast within him. Luckily for me, his ghost decreed, in so many words, that I was to lead the Companions. Aela expressed surprise, but did not argue. The others have accepted me as such, as well.

After that, I returned to Whiterum as fast as I could. The deadline for the final battle for Skyrim was looming, and I still needed to halt the end of the world. I’m not sure what would have happened to this country if I hadn’t arrived, to be honest. I spoke with the Jarl about my plan to trap a dragon in his keep.

Needless to say, he was not pleased with my request, but his is the only keep designed to trap a dragon. It took very little convincing. With that, I called for Odahviing.

…and trapped him. Long story short, he said he came when I called because of my first triumph over Alduin, and promised to carry me to Sovngard, where Alduin hides.

I considered many options. It had taken a lot of maneuvering to capture this dragon, and, after all, he seemed to imply that while he did not always tell the truth, he did not lie, either. Lydia made the comment afterward that I am the same way, so of course I was wary. Dinner that night was very awkward.

At any rate, I decided that the only way to defeat Alduin was to trust him. And so away I went.

I’m afraid I will have to tell you about my fight with Alduin and my final campaign later. Look for another letter soon!

Regards,
Ra’zirr

Athena had barely put the first letter down when she hear a “tap tap tap” at her window. A messenger owl was there, holding another letter with the now-familiar scrawl of the Khajiit. He must have really been anxious to describe the rest of his journey. She broke the seal and began to read.

“To Athena, fondest greetings and salutations…”

 

Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you soon!
~ Athena

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