[Story] pt.29. On the Road

Part one is here Part 28 is here

[...]

The rest of the night is fairly riotous/raucous, I think we scare a fair number of customers back out into the weather, The Orc is obviously not young, going solely on the scars on his upper body, but he can certainly drink and he laughs easily. We do our best to keep up with him, and we all slow down towards the end, Sofia collapses in a chair, and in the end I'm using the Orc for support, I don't think Nerida is much of a drinker, and she maintains her position all night, back to the wall, with a good view of both doors.

The elf has a pained look on his face in the end , but he's not prepared to tell the Orc "no." However, once I refuse another beer, he goes through the motions of wiping down the bar and mopping up.

I ask the Orc to help me get Sofia home, but gently. He agrees and cradles her in one arm, while helping me stay upright, I tell him where to go, and this we stumble back, Vilja is once again sleeping in a chair and she wakes up as we arrive. I think she tells us to be quiet. The Orc puts Sofia into bed. I show the Orc the empty space on the upstairs landing, as he's too big to fit next to the fire, but we've all had a skinfull at this point. Sleep comes quickly.

[...]

Vilja is making a large amount of noise when I finally come too. Probably on purpose. I tell her to be quiet, and go back to sleep. Sofia is oblivious. I finally get out of bed sometime in the afternoon, The Orc is still here, reading by the door, he seems to be in a good mood. He's obviously been back to the huntsmen as he's wearing his body armour. But not his helmet or gloves. I ask him what his plans are? He has none. I tell him that were currently searching for a missing person and there is likely to be combat if he's still interested in a good death, though hopefully it won't come to that, he thinks about it, and then agrees. We have ourselves an Orc. It strikes me then that I don't actually know his name. Which turns out to be Urmuk, Urmuk gro-Muzgol to be exact.

He's at peace doing whatever we need, provided there is fighting and drinking he'll be fine he says. "Welcome aboard" I say As luck would have it he's also not a bad cook, at least at the meat and potato end of the spectrum.

Vilja is not too impressed with the sudden overcrowding, but she's too busy with Lucia to complain much.

When evening rolls around, and I tell Urmuk that there is another Inn in town he looks pleasantly surprised, Sofia cries off on account of a hangover, and Nerida isn't interested, so we wander outside to take the air.

[...]

An Orc of any size is always a curiosity, but Urmuk is large. We feel the guards tense up as we enter, though they soon relax when we take a seats in the back room.

I explain the setup, and broadly what we're about, but he's only really concerned with an honourable death. Keeps on saying he's too old. But he's good company regardless.

We listen to others as they talk, news of the war and what the Imperials are doing. The evening passes quietly enough and we return home at the end of the evening.

[...]

I awake before Sofia, with her lying on her side, you could easily mistake her stomach as a healthy appetite if you didn't know. She opens her eyes, smiles, and pulls me on top, morning exercise begins.

When I come downstairs, Nerida is still sleeping. though Urmuk is again sitting at the table by the door reading. I'm anxious to keep the Orc on side and given he's spent a fruitless week by the roadside, I figure some combat will do us all some good and I'll get to see Nerida in action too. For want of something better to do I remember Amren the mercenary. The last resting place of his family sword is White River Watch just close by, so I figure we'll make the trek, get into harm's way and see how it comes out. I've not been selling potions as I've picked them up, we've not got many, but we've got enough. So I get everyone up. We have a quick breakfast and we're about to head out to get the horses, when it strikes me that the Orc won't have a horse. So I ask Vilja if we can borrow hers, since her horse is the most substantial we have. She looks a little hurt at the suggestion, but then Lucia asks if she can go and see the horses too. To which she says "of course" so off we go.

A bandit comes out of nowhere, as we walk down to the stables, Vilja goes hyper alert, shielding Lucia behind her, pulls out her bow, but three Whiterun guards are already shooting at this point, the bandit gets a couple of shots off but they fly overhead. They're dead soon after. The bandit turns out to be a female of the species, I'm always mystified as to why people try to take out armoured positions like this single-handedly. Madness. Time to saddle up.

Vilja is visibly upset at seeing the Orc mount her horse. Having first groomed him, and shown him off to Lucia. I leave the bad news for last, "we may be gone a few days" I say, "we're going up just past the meadery, but then we'll likely push on to Riverwood, see what the old Khajiit was talking about." I give her 200 Septims for food, etc. Just in case were not back in time. But then Lucia comes over and takes Vilja's hand to go take a closer look at the other horses

[...]

The weather is good, patchy cloud and blue sky, with a little haze and quite bright. A good day to ride. We set off.

There's a horse with no visible rider waiting by the bridge, it dashes off to attack a wolf which is chasing somebody down the hill, another comes out of the undergrowth behind me but a guard dispatches it before it gets too close. But then this is one of the more dangerous and heavily trafficked crossings for miles around.

[...]

We cross the bridge and track upward for a while, we know we've reached the location when we're jumped by some bandits. One called Radolph. who's a bit of a jerk according to the letter I find on him after he dies coming down the mountain, impaled by an ice bolt. Urmuk rides ahead and takes out another bandit with a low sweep of his axe. She at least has gear and potions worth taking. Then we find the trail, and the lookout is oblivious until he gets nailed by a fireball and an arrow from the girls behind me. This must be the place then. it looks like another mine, only this one had a platform. Hopefully they have some decent gear.

We enter the mine and an old guy asks me if I'm Radolph, at which point the letter begins to make sense. I answer in the affirmative, and he tells me the boss is looking for me up top. I thank him. We walk past without a hitch.

My aim is crap today, every shot wide of the mark. Luckily Nerida's aren't.

[...]

A big Orc lumbers out and encounters Urmuk, they trade blows for a while until the axe finds it's target. Up to the next level and I finally open the scoring, with the last bandit on the walkway. There are a few pelts to loot , the odd ring and a beer or two, but after that we head outside to the boss, who is sitting with his back to us, so he takes two arrows to the spine and slumps over in his chair, that said it is a nice view. He has some fairly nice gear too.

The chest contains a cheap sword, which is presumably what we came to find, still, ours is not to reason why.

We soak up the view for a bit, a fairly majestic one of Whiterun and Dragonsreach with the mountains in the background then head off back down. All told , 7 bandits, then I find a chest of drawers I missed earlier and contains a child's doll, bonus! Lucia will like that.

The blind Watchman is kind enough to wish us "good luck out there" as we leave, I thank him. The road back to the Riverwood turning is uneventful, though as we reach the first turn at the top of the road up the hill, we find a group of dead pilgrims. No sign of their escort. Perhaps that what the man was running from earlier. We drag them off the road and continue on as the sun starts to go down.

[...]

We reach the Sleeping Giant Inn by sundown, it's a small place but not bad, we mention to the innkeeper a severe looking woman with a scar, that were looking for a Khajiit, she says she's been leaving food out for one of late, she usually comes out late evening, though we're not the only people looking for her. We go out back and can't see anything, may as well stay the night. The ale's not bad either so a pleasant evening is had by all.

[...]

Part 30 is here