The March to Jorrvaskr

It took us three days to march up to Helgan, the fortress town that controlled the major passage of southern Skyrim through the Jerall Mountains. The town had just over five hundred residents minus the garrisoned legionnaires. I joined these guys in Morrowind, fought beside them during the Oblivion Crisis, these are the soldiers that put all of Tamriel under their heel and declared their founding leader a god. They fought off the invasions of Akavir.

And now they couldn't beat the high elves and were forced to renounce their god. They even struggled to put down a provincial rebellion that half the people didn't support. It felt like looking at your grandfather in his eighties and remembering how he was still strong and crafty enough to kick your ass thirty years ago.

We stayed at the local inn again, once more going through song and dance of convincing people I am not a monster who ate an argonian.

It hurt my heart to lie to all these simple folk.

The Thane arm rings certainly helped calm people down as they believed no Jarl would elevate an actual cannibal to such a respected title.

It was only a day's walk down to Riverrun and along the way we stopped at the standing stones of the the Warrior, the Thief, and the Mage.

"I remember coming here. Praying that the Mage Stone would allow me to follow my dream." Jack mused as she ran her hand over the familiar stone.

Poor kid should have sought out the Atronach Stone, it would have given him just enough magicka to work the lesser magics.

Both of us activated the Warrior Stone and the power of the stars entered us, increasing our talents for the martial skills of this world. The stars were hugely important in this verse, the various constellations providing power in the form of birthsigns, standing stones, and perks for those skilled enough to meditate on the specific stars in various formations.

Jar-Shak had only learned the stars for the magical skills, and he new them by heart from boyhood, but I had been able to purchase a few texts and manuals on the other two primary disciplines and Jack and I had been spending a few hours each evening focusing our minds on the stars.

It revealed that our decade of sword instruction in Star Wars hadn't gone to waste as we were experts in single handed weaponry and adepts at blocking. I was also adept in the ways of smithing, but had mastered heavy armor entirely and could meditate on the full constellation at my leisure. Jack had some skills in picking locks, sneaking, and pickpocketing from her time as rogue traveling the galaxy, but she had chosen not to pursue those constellations until we knew we had enough accumulated power to connect with all the stars we wanted in the warrior signs.

Overall it kind of felt like we'd entered a cultivation novel and were gaining new abilities as we furthered our understanding of the great Daos, but when the sun and stars are windows into a plane of unlimited power, who am I to complain?

I liked Riverwood a lot once they stopped screaming about me being a monster. God deliver me, that shit was getting old fast. We got to see Sven trying to woo Camilla Valerius when she arrived at the inn, while Feindal glared daggers at the confident and almost suave bard. I enjoyed both of them looking like they'd eaten shit when the lovely little imperial (assume people aren't the hideous vanilla versions) swooned so hard she had to fan herself when the missus and I made our pass at her. She didn't join us, but that is her loss, not ours.

We even met the annoying bitch herself, Delphine. What a square.

After departing Riverwood the next morning we travelled the road and heard the sounds of shouting and the growling of wolves. Following the sounds at a quick jog we found a large pack of wolves engaged in combat with a pair of nords and a dark elf.

"Incoming!" I yelled an pounced at a wolf while bringing The Mule down axe first on its neck. Jack darted in without the use of her biotics and stabbed another next to me.

"There's more than enough here for the lot of us!" Cheerfully greeted the dark haired nord thick boy, his muscles bulging as he swung his greatsword around with ease.

"What an axe!" Shouted the second nord, a skinnier blonde with lesser hygiene and sloppier movements of his own greataxe.

"Why is everyone in this province so in love with huge weapons?" Shouted the frustrated dark elf as he dispatched another wolf with his short sword and offhand dagger.

I sent a wolf flying with a backswing of my hammer that shot past the dark elves face before I stabbed an oncoming wolf in the mouth.

"That's why!" laughed the big nord as he finished the last wolf off by splitting its skull cleanly.

"Listen, my new big best friend." The slovenly nord greeted, "I need to know who made you that beastly union of hammer, axe, and stabby bit. It speaks to me in ways I don't understand. Entices me like no woman ever has. I think I love it."

"Made it myself." I told him.

"Name's Torvar, Companion of Jorrvaskr, and slayer of whatever you tell me to convince you to make me one like yours." the slovenly nord introduced himself while his companions took off the right ears of all the wolves we killed."

"That's convenient." Jack spoke, "We are traveling to Whiterun to join the Companions."

"Hominahominahomina." The bleary eyed Torvar gurgled as he saw the warrior goddess I am married to.

"Down boy." I told him, "Before the wife puts a world of hurt on ya."

"You are married to that avatar of Dibella!" Torvar cried, "It's true what they say. Some guys really do have all the luck. You are a specimen and a half, can make superweapons of awesome badassery, and you get to cuddle up to her every night! Teach me your ways!"

"You can't handle my ways." I denied him and watched the soul leave his body in pure despair.

"He is telling the truth, Torvar." the dark elf in a hide harness approached after filling his sack of ears, "Even if you weren't such a lazy lout, you wouldn't be able to keep up with one of the giant argonians of the deep swamps. You saw that speed and strength first hand."

"Greetings ashlander." I extended my hand to the dark elf, "I am Grunt Bearsbane and this is my wife Jack."

"Quite strange for an argonian to extend his hand to a dunmer." he referenced the long history of the dark elves enslaving the beast folk, but shook my hand all the same.

"Your people have never enslaved a lizard like me." I chuckled.

"Damn straight." the big nord stated as he walked over, "You can't enslave muscles like that. I am Farkas, the leader of this trio. You have my thanks for joining the fight and I hope that you are accepted at Jorrvaskr."

"Got a letter of recommendation from the Jarl of Falkreath." Jack told him, "Did some bounty work there and even got made Thanes." she took out the gold arm ring from a pouch on her belt.

"Then I doubt anyone will deny you both." Farkas grinned.

It took us a further three days to get to Whiterun, the biggest city in Skyrim with close to thirty thousand residents. We spent a fair bit of time talking to our Companions companions about our understanding of the martial skills and Farkas and I bonded quickly over our love of heavy armor.

I was able to connect to the Tower of Strength star after a conversation with him, proving his skill as a teacher.

The stench of cow shit hung heavy in the air around Whiterun as the great plains around the city were used as pasture for many herds of cattle. The city itself was very well defended with three sets of walls and watchtowers ready to light signal fires to alert from danger from both the north and the south.

We didn't actually enter the city that evening as our detour to the Honningbrew Meadery lasted several hours and resulted in us striking up camp one final time.

Whiterun felt more like a Viking themed Novigrad than the city I remembered, but that just made me more excited to explore it. The city was built on a bluff in three distinct districts each contained within a wide stone wall. The majority of the city bound citizens worked in the Plains district that was encircled by the outermost wall, this is where I saw most of the familiar sights I remembered from the game, such as Warmaiden's and the Drunken Huntsman. We made our way through the busy streets to the Wind District, where most of the people lived and where Jeek of the River upturned his longboat and built the legendary meadhall, Jorrvasker.

Jeek's crew only consisted of twenty two men, so the dwelling they built was quite cozy for the nine current members of the premier mercenary company of Skyrim. We arrived during breakfast, and Farkas shouted our introduction as we entered.

"I left to hunt wolves and returned with new friends!"

"Farkas!" his brother called from his place at the table, "While it is nice that you have found someone you can lift weights with, that doesn't mean they are Companions material."

"Ha!" Farkas barked as he sat down next to Vilkas, "From what I have seen, I'd be safer working out with the wife. The lizard half of the Bearsbane couple is even stronger than he looks, and he looks like he can run with a pair of horses on his shoulders."

"Lighten up Vilkas." Torvar stated, "We know them and fought with them. Plus they got a letter of recommendation from a Jarl. You know, those nine guys who hire us to take care of all sorts of business."

"Having your approval doesn't pass for much." Vilkas spat.

"Peace Vilkas." spoke Kodlack the Harbinger, "I like the way they walk."

The elder warrior rose up and greeted us warmly, "Welcome to Jorrvaskr, friends. You have already proven yourself to three of our number, and in the coming days I have no doubt you will do so for the rest of us as well. Come and eat with us, for the days training will need fuel."

Over the next handful of days Jack and I were the first onto the training yard and the last to leave. With the power of the Warrior Stone and some of the best training partners in the world, our abilities grew quickly and we built our connection to the various stars we wanted to add to our build. Fortunately none of the perks were traps, as the Bladesman star increased the damage of attacks to critical areas and the Bonebreaker star applied to natural armor as well as armor worn. Such quality of life improvements existed throughout all the skill constellations.

By the end of the week of training we had added a fair bit of raw skill to our portfolio and five additional connections to the stars (as they can only form one connection a night). I picked up armsman, fighting stance, and savage strike from the One Handed constellation, and shield wall and quick reflexes from the Block constellation. Jack took up the same as they are all core abilities to our favored gear set up.

At dinner the fifth night of our stay with companions Kodlak called us up and asked if their were any who opposed our membership to the companions. When none spoke up he explained that the final step for us joining the team was to undergo a proving consisting of a mission undertaken with a member of the Circle. After dinner we met with Kodlak and Skjor, the man who would accompany us and it was explained that we would be handling two bounties for the Jarl of Whiterun in a single day by clearing out the bandits encamped at the Halted Stream and those who had taken over the Lunar Forge.

The first had started causing unrest in the local giant population and the second was a sister camp who operated hand in hand with the former.

In all it sounded like a fun day killing folks with a dour old man tagging along.