Those Grey Beards have summoned Lormak “The Bear” and he must go and pay them a visit. He has put of this journey for far too long and simply can not keep them waiting any longer. They are obviously very important.
The problem is that they are based in High Hrothgar which is a risky overland trip into mostly unchartered territory filled with all sorts of beasts and monsters as well as a dragon or two dive bombing poor Lormak on the way. Target destination is Ivarstead at the base of the mountains.
There seems to be no easy way to get there. Lormak decides to leave from Riften and travel through the woods away from the road. This way, it is hoped, that many of the random road encounters will be missed. He is particularly fearful of rouge mages that will start launching deadly magical attacks on sight.
So off he trundles through the pleasant woods. The sounds of the forest do nothing to relax Lormak who is crouched down and gripping his bow tightly.
First up, a camp fire flickers in the darkness ahead. He gets in closer, they could be simple hunters, or they could be a small group of bandits. He has learned that bandits react to arrows being fired near them, while friendly folk don’t seem to mind. A test arrow is fired from the darkness and lands into one of their tents....no reaction.....phew, turns out they are friendly hunters.
Just down the hillside from them, a Spriggan is spotted wandering around, and it’s controlling two cave bears which are glowing with green magic. This is Lormak’s first encounter with one of these creatures. It looks nasty, and those cave bears aren’t pushovers either. Lormak sets himself on a hill side and strategically launches bow attacks into them. The Spriggan is badly wounded and the bears attack poor Marcurio giving Lormak the time to finish the Spriggan who turns out to be a bit tougher than it first looked as it heals itself a few times before it finally drops. The two bears are then easy pickings, one is already near death and the other is focused on Marcurio giving Lormak some free shots into it’s bulky back.
So far so good, this little jaunt through the forest turns out to be easy.
Lormak travels further and further from Riften, killing a few more sole cave bears, and two brigands and their dog. He finally comes across another campsite which has a nearby fort in the distance.
It’s here he meets Stalleo who tells a tale of woe about the bandits that have taken over his home of Treva’s Watch. This is a sidetrack to getting to High Hrothgar but the challenge intrigues Lormak, especially when Stalleo says Lormak can keep everything he finds. He will regret that when he finds that there is nothing at all left in Treva’s Watch once his done....if he survives. That’s what you get when you hire the best though.
So in we go with high expectations this will simply be a seek and destroy mission without too much fuss.
The first fight went badly. Too many bandits swarmed over poor Marcurio and Lormak forcing them to beat a hasty retreat to the safety outside. This did not turn them off though, once revived they got back in and could see a couple of bandits from the early fight already lay dead. One foolishly stayed near the doorway and was ambushed and killed leaving only a couple more left which were easily dispatched.
We push in and come to another tricky fight which forces us backwards. We take them down though as they follow us through the corridors and our confidences rises. A new skill is earned for Lormak where he can now fire a bow 30% faster. This is a huge bonus!
Then comes the disaster. In a tight corridor, a bandit can be seen asleep on he’s bed through an open doorway. Lormak of course stealth attacks and the arrow lodges in the door frame without hitting the bandit. Of course, this wakes him up, and his mate in the same room. A few other red dots appear on the radar as well as more bandits become aware of the intruder.
The woken bandit stumbles out and Lormak focus’s on taking him out as a priority. Whack...arrow strike in the chest, knocks him back a bit, whack another one, and another knock back. Whack a third arrow and the guy is still alive, but hardly has any more health. Behind him though, I now have other bandits join the fight, running from some other room that I can’t see. This is not good...Lormak’s trying to back down the corridor but can’t, Marcurio is blocking the way firing off lightening bolts into the mob. There are five in total, one down on his knees with arrows sticking out of his chest begging for mercy, the others behind firing arrows and one using spells.
Grrrr...darn it....Lormak tries to take out the weakened one but just can’t get that last arrow to take him out and the mob is onto him. Two guys with two handed weapons power attack and land their blows.....Lormak almost dies the first time. He frantically pops lots of potions to stay up in the fight. Immediately afterwards, the lightening bold and arrows land, more potions. Then after that more double handed attacks landing. It’s looking really grim here, he is essentially stuck, and getting absolutely pounded into. Raising his shield and guzzling potions is pretty much all he can do right now to stay up.
He swings around and tries jumping past Marcurio and succeeds in jumping up and down with his back to two guys with two handed swords hacking into him (one is a bandit chief as well to make it worse). More potions....I’m starting to run out, I’ve gone through over 20 by now.
I’m popping pretty much any potion that gives me a benefit. Then I see the potion of brief invisibility that I’ve been saving for just a situation. I pop that...and everything changes. The focus goes to Marcurio, who moves out of my way, and I am able to get out of danger. I am hit by some stray shot and become visible again but run through the twisting corridors fearful that I’ll blunder into a dead end and be hacked down there.
Thankfully, I get to an area near the entry way. I see Marcurio following me....or so I thought....it was the bandit chief....crap!!!! He two hand attacks me again and staggers me back. I have to drink yet more potions and then I start a one v one fight with this guy. He is dangerous, his hits take off around 40% every chop, so it’s a lot of potions. I’m blocking some though. Eventually I use my deadly mace to rain blows down upon him. He blocks constantly with his two handed sword but the damage is getting through to the point he can’t block any more and gets down and begs for mercy. It still takes three strikes while he is prone to finally lay him flat on the stones. I’ve lost the others and am able to regroup and pick them off and clear out the rest of the fort.
Lormak’s life had flashed before his eyes. He was done for. Only after reflecting on the incident did he realise that he could have used his Nord skill to force them to flee, or even used his Dragon Shout to push them back. Doing ranged stealth attacks all the time have let him forget some of these skills. Need to remember them, that was almost the end of the campaign.
Now he has the joyful task of looting everything possible and then going back to Riften and selling it all off. He can now travel by horse to this area and continue on to Ivarstead and then to the Grey Beards themselves.
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