Jump to content
  • entries
    77
  • comments
    380
  • views
    10303

About this blog

Torn from Earth and brought to a bizarre land filled with swords, magic, dragons, and over-zealous slavers, Sian Elizabeth Fraser faces a destiny she could only have imagined in her deepest, darkest fever dreams.

Entries in this blog

Sian's Story

Sian's story part 69 - How to Clear a Fort in One Easy Step

I used to hate winter - my number one goal after graduating from college was going to be getting a job someplace warm. On the other hand, there are few things more beautiful and peaceful than a world covered in a white blanket of snow, with ice glazing branches and structures like shimmering crystal. It is a beauty I once was able to appreciate only from the comfort of a heated room, preferably with some hot chocolate and a warm blanket.   Now, thanks to that asshole Sanguine, it may b
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 68 - Orders are Orders

When I was a child, my siblings and I did the household chores while my parents watched tv or read. Their reasoning was that they worked all day and we were the ones who made the messes. With seven of us in the family, the house was always a mess, so the chores never ended. (Also, after the last of us moved out, their house remained a mess, so, so much for their claims it was all our fault!) This led to a few things, chief among them a bitterness toward them that I still hold to this day AND a d
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 67 - Longing for Solitude

The fighting ended long before the work did.   For two days after the Stormcloaks broke and fled, Whiterun remained tense, like a man waiting to see if a wound would fester. The Legion didn’t relax - we counted bodies, cleared rubble from the walls, dragged broken catapult frames into heaps and burned them until the air stank of pitch and charred wood. Patrols rode out in widening circles to make sure the enemy had truly gone and not merely slipped out of sight to regroup.  
Sian's Story

Sian's story part 66 - The "Siege" of Whiterun

I have been in many fights and even what could be considered battles, and I have seen plenty of tv shows and movies (and even played a video game or two) that described or depicted, in historical or fictional detail, what a medieval siege is like. None of them were lifelike, it turns out.   If you had asked me—before—what a siege looked like, I would have told you about dirt and time.   Months. Maybe years. Lines of tents stretching like a second city around stone walls. Sta
Sian's Story

Sian's story part 65 - Uncomfortable Conversations

I have been in many fights and even what could be considered battles, and I have seen plenty of tv shows and movies (and even played a video game or two) that described or depicted, in historical or fictional detail, what a medieval siege is like. None of them were lifelike, it turns out.   First of all, the scale of the thing is far beyond what stage or screen can convey. There were thousands of people on both sides and…   …   I can hear you all bitching at me fro
Sian's Story

Sian's Story Part 64 - Triumphant Return

Getting back to Solitude felt like reaching the end of a long, miserable joke…one where the punchline was that nothing happened.   I turned in the Jagged Crown at Castle Dour, still dusted with road grime, feet aching, and just so tired. General Tullius took it from my hands like it was a sack of grain. No fanfare. No crowd. No solemn ceremony or raised banners or anything that might suggest this object had once been fought over by armies and bled for by the dead.   “Good wor
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

2
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 63 - Frost Dragons in Flight, Afternoon Delight

If I had a septim for every time someone in Skyrim said “shortcut” and meant “near‑vertical death hike,” I would have two septims, which isn’t a lot but…I mean, c’mon.   Lane’s shortcut threaded through the upper ridges of the mountains between the plains outside Whiterun and the swamp that infested Morthal. It featured high, narrow paths where the wind screamed like it had personal grudges and the air felt thin enough to crack. The kind of place where you don’t fall so much as disappe
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

4
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 62 - A Horse of a Different Color

What happened next was kind of my fault, because I could have avoided the fight had I thought ahead.   See, the last time I had been in the area we were traversing, I had come from a different direction - a near-vertical drop from the mountain that towered over us on the right. So, coming as we did from the road, I didn’t recognize the Stormcloak camp until they ambushed us from it.   I’m not sure if they attacked because of Lazhah’s Imperial uniform (they certainly had no r
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

4
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 61 - This is Why I Hate Camping

Good Boy! came into immediate use when we left Ivarstead the next day and stumbled across a bear den while trying an ill-advised shortcut. While scritching the fluffy boy’s ears, it occurred to me how nice it was that we hadn’t had to kill the poor thing, who was only protecting his den. We had a nice chat about berries and honey and I assured him we were just passing through, so even after the Shout wore off, he was wary but did not return to being hostile.   Wolves are somewhat simil
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

1
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 60 - It Would Have Worked if it Hadn't Been For You Meddling Kids!

It took less time to get down the mountain than it had taken to climb it – logically enough – though not as little as it had my first time which, as you’ll recall, involved me butt-skiing my way down a steep slope pursued by a variety of deadly creatures directly into a Stormcloak camp.   We reached Ivarstead just as the last of the sunlight filtered away behind the mountains and went back to the inn, where Lane was given her own room for free so she could do her day job (or, I guess,
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

4
Sian's Story

Sian's story part 59 - Testing, One, Two, Three...

It was a two day slog to climb the 7000 Steps to High Hrothgar because Nigel refused to allow the horses to make the trek on the grounds that it is fucking cold and snowy and dangerous up there (not his exact words but that’s the gist) and I could not very well argue the point by pointing out I had ridden my previous horse there because a) that had, indeed, proved too dangerous for the poor thing and b) Helen’s opinion of me was already low as it was.   The troll was still there but it
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

11
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 58 - Take the Long Way Home

The next morning, the first thing Kellan said to me was, “What is that?” and I, having slept like the dead after the exhausting events of the prior day and therefore having the groggiest of mornings, had the brain function of an amoeba and could only mumble, “What is what?”   A propos of nothing, this world really needs coffee.   I remembered the amulet just after the words left my lips and a I felt a growing panic as I realized the trap I had set for myself – I was not prepa
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

10
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 57 - Confronting Mortality

Lazhah and I reached our camp just as the sun was beginning to set. Kellen sprang to his feet as he shouted, “You’re back!” and rushed to me and pulled me into a huge hug, and I clung to him as all the emotions I had tried my damndest to shutter up in the aftermath of the fight finally burst their dam.   We stayed like that, clinging to each other in a shell of complete silence (save for my gulping sobs) for the better part of an hour, while I soaked his shirt in tears and my body’s tr
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

6
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 56 - Jagged Little Kill

Korvanjund is where everything changed.   I had killed people before. Not very many, if we subtract those portions of my past where I wasn’t really myself. Only four, in fact, if we’re being stringent about the “wasn’t really myself” part. My body has killed hundreds, but I take no personal responsibility for Molag Bal’s handiwork – I had no control at that time.   The parts with Dibella’s gifts are a little more iffy. I was more myself then, especially before Molag’s influen
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

7
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 55 - Heart to Heart

My Imperial-provided horse was a buttery yellow mare with a white mane (she looked a LOT like a palomino, which is a little odd considering those are crossbreeds of Spanish and American horses) named Helen. I loved her from the moment I saw her even though she was the most fastidious person (if you will) I have ever met. Horses are smart but their conversations tend to focus on their opinions of various types of grass or grain. They spent most of their nights discussing the single patch of grass
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

7
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 54 - Do Your Chores

The next day started dark and early by a pounding at the door to our room that reverberated through my hangover like physical blows. Okay, to be fair, it was only a normal knock, but my head amplified it to the drums of Moria.   I tried to ignore it but it persisted. Then I tried to nudge Kellan awake so he could deal with it but he was either out cold or pretending to be, the bastard. Finally I got up, wrapped my rug around me (even blankets turned into sheer lingerie if I tried using
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

7
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 53 - First Assignment

I lugged my new armor back to the castle, ducked into the first empty room I came to, closed the door, and changed into my new uniform. Fortunately (or unfortunately), there was a mirror in the room, and when I saw myself in my new outfit, I nearly gave up and killed myself on the spot.   The lower portion was a string thong, of course, but of the thinnest metal string ever. The bikini top had, I swear to god, fucking heart-shaped cups and the helm…I can’t even. It had fucking metal ca
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

17
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 52 - You're in the Army Now

I like Rikke. She is no-nonsense, completely fair, and absolutely up front about any and all topics. To whit:   “Now, as you may or may not know, the imperial army is not like the Stormcloaks. We do not ‘recruit’ women to do our cooking and cleaning – everything is done by our soldiers,” she said as she led the way through the stone corridors of the castle.   “Didn’t you offer to let me be a cook?”   “I was trying to stop you from what I thought was suicide. We do n
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

14
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 51 - Cut to the Front of the Line

I had visited Solitude once in my previous life, but it was during that time when I was partially hopped up on Molly, so I didn’t remember much about the place. It turns out to be the Skyrim equivalent of New York City or Paris - an exterior of glitz and glam covering an underbelly of poverty and darkness. “Cosmopolitan,” is the word for it on Earth.   When we got there, Lane went off to the local Dibellan temple, Kellan went off to procure us rooms at the inn, and I went off to join t
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

7
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 50 - Ustengrav Your Partner, Do Si Do

Despite my proclamation that I wanted to explore every cave, ruin, and barrow we came across, we skipped over the ones on the way to Ustengrav. Who knew how long it would take Delphine to realize there was a Dragonborn and abscond with the horn? I wanted to travel double time – sixteen-hour days instead of eight (all numbers estimated. I really miss having a portable clock, either via watch or phone) but after the first day of that, I couldn’t hack it. It is one thing to walk along semi-maintain
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

11
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 49 - The Best Offense is a Good Defender

It was, as I had said, a terrible plan but, in fairness, it kind of worked. The specific part that worked was that the dragon made a beeline straight for me as I shouted and waved my arms. I don’t know if it was because I was shouting the two dragon words I had learned last time (although, of course, there was no power behind them) or just because it was attracted to the clearly insane, but come it did. I waited until it had opened its mouth and its ice began to spew before I turned and ran back
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

17
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 48 - The Plan Redux, Mark IV, 9.0

As we pulled our clothes back on…well, while Kellan pulled his clothes back on and I got back into what passed for clothes for me, I tried to think about what to do next. Kellan apparently had the same thought, because once he finished tightening his belt, he picked up the dragonstone and peered at it.   “Now that we have this rock – I’ll take your word for it that these strange etchings make some sort of map – what do we do with it?”   “That’s a good question. Last time, I w
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

16
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 47 - What Happens Next Will Shock You! (Okay, not really)

I hadn’t visited the aftermath last time – I had left when the beheadings began, sickened by them, and had been outside the northern gate when Alduin had appeared, at which point I had run as far away as I could.   It was like nothing I had seen before. No, I take that back – it was exactly like all of Skyrim had looked just before the Great Reset; so much death and destruction. Blackened bodies lay everywhere. Some had clearly been trying to run, some were huddled in useless protectiv
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

8
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 46 - ...GO!

I felt him arrive.   Not in Helgen. Well, okay, I felt him arrive in Helgen as well. Hell, everyone felt that. I felt him arrive before that.   I didn’t know that’s what I was feeling, of course. I was sitting at a table in the inn’s common room enjoying a nice breakfast with my favorite Skyrim meal – eggs, grilled bread, and steak (there are no pigs in Skyrim, so no bacon, much to my everlasting sorrow), washed down with a mug of milk. It was the closest thing Skyrim had to
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

4
Sian's Story

Sian's Story part 45 - On Your Marks, Get Set...

Helgen was, much to my relief, intact when we reached it on Fredas, the 15th of Last Seed (or, in Earth terms, Friday, August 15th – the Nirn and Earth calendars match up remarkably well. It’s as if the Nirn one was intentionally designed to be intuitive for a visitor from Earth) of the year 201. Not that the date meant much to me. I had been straining to try to match up the days with my first timeline, but I had been beyond lost then and was only marginally less lost this time. Had I already re
jfraser

jfraser in Sian's Story

4
×
×
  • Create New...