Balbus - shot down and killed.

Another two levels gained. Trying desperately to hold back on levelling so I can get 5 combat ranks per level in Archery at the moment.

Found more bandits and looted along with a treasure map to find a chest near Riverwood which allowed me to finance the next 5 levels. Unfortunately, I’d gained too many skill increases and I was forced to jump from level 5 to level 7.

It’s better than the level 1 to level 5 jump I did last. I think I should be able to control it from now on. I’ve now bought 10 ranks in Archery and levelled it quite a bit in fighting as well. I have over 30 skill points in it already.

Also found a guy called Balbus lurking around Riverwood on the outskirts. He was blabbing on about collecting ingredients for someone called the gourmet. With pick pocketing, I inspected him and decided he was a prime target for a bit of highway robbery. I shot him in the back with my bow while he wasn’t looking and he almost died after one hit. A second shot finished him off. All his stuff is mine including his fork!

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Balbus

Valeria has now made it to Whiterun and talked with the Jarl about the Dragon attack. There’s plenty of free loot lying around his home which she is picking up and selling off. It’s quite profitable. She’ll be seeking to level up one handed with training as it should be fairly cheap to do this for 5 ranks and get it out of the way. Definitely want to get my sneak skill higher as well. Doing triple damage from sneak attacks is really going to be a big advantage if I can get that in these early levels.

So Valeria needs heaps of money for training, and she needs to pay off some bounties. Whiterun guards haven’t bothered to halt her for the 25 gold bounty on her head there. That’s fine with me. She wants to clear the Falkereath bounty as soon as possible.

The Companions have also extended an invite to their organisation. I should go there and loot their building clean as well. I’m not too interested in what they do at this point of the game, but it does have an advantage of some paid work and a place to stay.