The Scoundrel Archer's Long Night

Having spent most of the afternoon with Selene, swimming in the azure waters of the oasis and lounging on the sand while allowing her to decompress from her horrific bout of arachnophobia, we both decided to return to the comforts of Riverwood Keep.

When we arrived, however, comfort was not going to be found. Standing on the steps of Riverwood Keep was a distraught woman, impatiently waiting as I approached.

'What now...' I muttered to myself.
"Lord Cruce," one of my guards said, issuing his fist-over-chest salute. "Mistress Bella to see you."
I looked into her brown eyes and saw terror and desperation. Not the same desperation that Lucan had possessed; this was authentic.

Bella explained to me that she was in the town of Helgen, visiting her cousin who just so happened to be an Imperial soldier, and a dragon attacked the town. She had been ushered into Helgen Keep as the destruction went on about her, but in the madness of the assault, she was separated from her relative. She found her own way out of the town and avoided detection by the angry dragon, and ran to Riverwood for help. She told me that Lucan highly recommended coming to see me, telling of how my companions and I took out an entire bandit clan and recovered his stolen claw.

I was, at that moment, prepared to give Lucan an arrow enema...

Selene and Danariel both looked to me, expecting me to assist Bella in finding her cousin. They must think I'm some kind of hero...

I couldn't in good conscience turn down Bella's request, especially if there was a slim chance of her kinsman being trapped alive somewhere. So, as night crept upon the tropical land of Skyrim, the four of us made our way to Helgen.

Or what was left of Helgen. As we entered the town, I heard the familiar roar of Alduin himself in the distance. So, apparently I wasn't the ONLY one who had planned to renege on the deal which was struck. The fun part of this betrayal: now I could, if I chose, intervene in Alduin's world domination. And he wouldn't get an ounce of my Dragonborn power. Well, it sucks to be him.

We entered Helgen Keep, expecting to find crazed survivors or looters in which I would have to deal with appropriately. Even though I had spent a few hours of relaxation with Selene in the oasis, my shoulders and back were still a bit sore, having loosed over a hundred shots within a short amount of time. I wasn't completely certain if the fatigue had been sluiced away by the exertion of other parts of my body, but I was feeling the drain of the busy day as I crept through the keep.

And then the damnable ceiling collapsed ahead of me...

Great... not only do I have to be alert for survivors and/or looters, now I have to run the risk of being squashed like a bug beneath tons of heavy stone. Well, such is the life of an adventurer.

I slipped through the door to my left, uncertain of what I would find. Dead rebel soldiers? Well then...

Further in, I saw that I had missed the party. Well, it appears SOMEBODY had fun...

Bella explained that the Imperials had captured Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak, the leader of the rebellion, and that he had conjured the dragon to aid in his escape. I just let her talk; I knew the truth, but was not in a particularly divulgitory mood.

She led us to the location in which they had been separated. According to Bella, Stormcloak soldiers were engaged in heated battle with Imperial soldiers, and her cousin had sent her back into the keep to avoid risk of her life. She said that she had protested, explaining that she was a mage herself and could help out, but of course he would have none of it.

I crossed over the bridges to search the bodies strewn about, only finding those adorned in the Stormcloak blue. This gave hope in finding Bella's cousin alive.

But then I ran into THIS...

Well if THAT doesn't make your piss hot. The passage was completely blocked by the cave in, and there was no way around it. I might be Dragonborn, but I'm not a living excavation machine.

I stared at the blocked passage, contemplating what I should do next. Do I tell Bella that I've done all I can do? Honestly, that was about the only option I had, as much as I hated to do it. Even though I was fighting the tiredness of the day, I still didn't want to be the bearer of excruciating news.

Then Danariel came alongside me, her ranger's eyes seeing through a tiny gap in the rubble and recognizing the cave that lay beyond the debris. She had been there many times, and could find the entrance outside of Helgen with her eyes closed.

After back-tracking through the carnage of the fights to the death and out of the destroyed town, we found the elusive cave's entrance.

I entered the cave first, moving into the rolling fog like a ghost as I began to search for any signs of passage.

Amid the unnerving rumbles of the cavern ceiling overhead, my elven ears heard groans of pain. I motioned for Bella to follow me, and as I strategically took position on a jutting slab of rock, Bella rushed ahead to the downed Imperial soldier.

We had found her cousin, Hadvir, lying seriously wounded on the cave's floor.

I was prepared to haul the man over my aching shoulders and carry him out, but then Bella tilted his head back and poured a potion of health into his mouth. The cave continued to rumble as he swallowed the liquid, and within a matter of seconds, he was able to stand up. He hugged Bella, relieved that she had survived the assault. He looked to me and immediately asked the status of my allegiance: Empire, or Stormcloak.

With a few colorful adjectives and expressing interesting ideas of Hadvir's relationship with his mother, I informed him that my allegiance was to Lord Cruce of Riverwood Keep.

The cave took on a louder rumble, and flecks of rock began to rain down on our position. And what does this son of a motherless goat do? He yells that we don't have time to debate, and takes off running through the cave to the safety of the exit.

Bella followed close behind as I dashed toward the exit, and I could hear slabs of natural rock falling behind us. We charged through the cave's mouth just as the ceiling crashed down, successfully avoiding another potential unpleasant crushing experience.

Hadvir was waiting for us as I dusted myself off, which I thought was awful nice of him to do. He looked over his shoulder to me, thanking me for helping Bella and coming to find him. He informed us that he had to get to Solitude, and basically ordered Bella to let his uncle Alvor know that he had survived the attack. He told me if I was ever in Solitude to find him, that the Empire is always looking for new recruits, and he would vouch for me with his superiors.

I had an arrow nocked by this time, and I was about to draw and anchor. Selene placed a hand on my elbow, and as I looked at her, she shook her head. Hadvir was still in range...just one arrow, right to the back of the knee. It could save his life in the future, restricting him to guard duty in his beloved city of Solitude. But, Selene was right. Better to let the pompous ass go. If I did see him in Solitude, though...

By this time, my blood was boiling, and I was in a quiet rage. I asked Selene and Danariel to escort Bella back to Riverwood, and that I would be along shortly. Selene made me promise that I wasn't going to hunt Hadvir down, and as much as I would have liked to, I truthfully told her that I was going to scout a lead that I'd come across about the nearby Embershard Mine.

My adrenaline was up, from the anger in which Hadvir had instilled with his antics, and I just wanted to fling some arrows into something or someone. I didn't tell the ladies that I knew of the occupation of Embershard Mine by bandits, else they would have demanded to accompany me.

I entered the mine, hoping with all hope that there would be a plethora of foolish Nords in which I could turn into pincushions.

I did happen upon a pair engaged in a slight argument about their duties. Probably caught them at shift change, that would explain why no one was at the entrance to greet me. Even though I move like a ninja, I could have stomped through like an elephant and these two wouldn't have heard me above their raised voices.

A clean head shot dropped the first one, and then his partner decided he wanted to get up close and personal. A fatal error, methinks...

The ruckus alerted the bandits on the other side of their wooden drawbridge, and they came charging in to help. That was fine with me; just more targets.

After finishing off the would-be heroic bandits, I made my way deeper into the mine. I was pleased that I didn't have the fear of being buried by a cave-in; at least this was a mine in which had been shored up with timbers to ensure stability. I came upon what appeared to be an overseer's office at one time, and through the crudely hewed window, I saw a dozing bandit on the other side of the iron bars.

Peek-a-boo....I see you...

A sharp whistle jerked him from his siesta, and he rushed around to introduce me to his axe. I wasn't going to let him axe me anything, though...

I dropped the dozy bandit without difficulty. An arrow in the arm stunned him, then one to the face allowed him to permanently return to his slumber.

Beyond the overseer's office, a trio of bandits were scattered about their main stronghold. I decided to crash their party, which they thought was utterly rude and responded with quite a bit of hatred.

One of them had an affinity with a bow, and decided that I would look better perforated instead of slashed and gashed to bits by his compatriots. He had the nerve to shoot into the fray in which I was involved, apparently uncaring whether he hit his fellow mohawked bandit or myself, as I bashed Mr. T with my bow to stun him while trying to bury his massive axe into my skull.

As if I wasn't pissed off enough already...

One shot, and my arrow pierced his heart. He fell to the wooden bridge with a cry, and I knew he would be dead by the time I made my way up there.

That's what you get when you play with adults...

Now that I had successfully cleared the mine of the bandit plague, I decided to pilfer through their stash. Why not? I AM a procurer of rare artifacts...

They weren't very good bandits, I saw... not much of a stash to look through. Even their hidden chest by the waterfall held only two coin pouches and a worn greatsword...

Well, no rare artifacts here. Just a way to let off some steam, and rid the world of a few more idiots.

By the time I emerged from the mine, dawn had come. My body began telling me that I had been awake for too long, and as I made my way back to Riverwood, I felt like one of the undead I had faced during my venture for Lucan. I entered the town, hearing the grinding of metal from Alvor's forge. I wanted to ensure that Bella had made it back, even though I trusted both Selene and Danariel completely, I still wanted to put on the facade that I was actually someone who CARED.

Alvor was pleased of the news he had received, and wished to thank me personally for assisting Bella and Hadvir. I neglected to tell him that had came a Skeever's whisker close to lighting Hadvir up with my bow. But, Alvor offered his smithing services to me for free, as a token of his gratitude. Well, that really wouldn't help me much, since I'm an archer...
I thanked him regardless, and my stomach informed me that I had neglected to partake of nourishment in quite sometime. My dining room and my bed were calling to me, like the soft whispers of a seductress. So, I left Alvor to his smithing and trudged my way into Riverwood Keep.

I was glad to finally remove my pauldrons and quiver, giving my shoulders and back a much needed reprieve. I entered my dining room, and Bella was waiting for me. She had even gathered some apples and cheese wedges and prepared them for when I returned.

After quelling the hunger that gnawed at me, I wanted nothing more than the sweet embrace of slumber. I made my way to my bedroom, and Bella followed close behind.

What happened next, I cannot tell you, because once my head hit my pillow, I fell into a comatose state.

This part of the story was a bit longer, yes. Hence the title being the long night. Thanks for taking time to read the story and look through the images, I have enjoyed making them and writing this series. Stay tuned for the next adventure of The Scoundrel Archer, and have a great day!

Screenshots taken from Skyrim: Legendary Edition (modded, PC)
Story setting: The Elder Scrolls universe, created by Bethesda