Skyrim - Clearing Morvunskar

I awaken from my slumber in Candleheath Hall, and walk out of my room. The innkepper I met yesterday is still stood behind the bar, displaying not a sign of tiredness. In front of the bar is a table, and at this table is sat a man in armour.

I walk over to him. His name is Stenvar, and he is muscle for hire. The the princely sum of 500 gold, he will follow me. Thanks to yesterday's pugilistic endeavour, I have some money burning away in my pocket. With memories of my old Housecarl fresh in my mind, I decide to hire Stenvar as a follower - he's a mercenary after all. I've walked the cold hills of Skyrim alone for too long. If anything, he'll provide some useful extra carrying capacity for me while we clear out forts.

To this end, we leave Windhelm together and head back up to the fort of Morvunskar once more. I'd only cleared out the area outside the fort - now that I have backup, I'll be a lot more comfortable heading into the fort itself.

As we approach the fort, Stenvar says how he always wished for a fort of his own as a child. I can tell he's going to be chatty, despite being paid for. The outside of the fort is still littered with the corpses of those I had slain previously, yet he mentions nothing of this - death obviously has no impact on him.

The interior of the fort doesn't prove as easy as the exterior. Mages fill all rooms, and all are of a very high level. Frost magic is used in abandon against us, and I am forced to use potions of health just to stay upright. But once we get close, the mages are not able to suffer many hits from our blade.

Stenvar favours double-handed weapons, and swings his steel broadsword wide. Mages fall within a couple of strikes of his heavy metal, and I hack away with my blade too.

Soon, the fort is cleared, and both of us are still standing. I am impressed with Stenvar's resilience and power in battle - he will prove useful in the battles to come.

We exit the cave, and make our way back down the road that leads up the hill to the fort. At the bottom, I pass a group of four men, who only seem to realise who I am when I have passed. They attack us, but are obviously not up to speed on how well I excel in close combat. All are slain.

I check the bodies of all of them for gold and some such, and discover a note - it is signed Lars Battle-Born, and it describes orders to have me killed. The Battle-Borns are a family in Whiterun. I will be having words next time I see them.