Skyrim - Fort Kastav to Mount Anthor

Fort Kastav is the next destination for me. It sits just north of Windhelm, but Stenvar and I approach it from the east due to our long journey around the river. The fort appears abandoned as we crest the hill in front, but we are soon met by resistance from within the walls.

Necromancers throw various types of magic at me, backed up by some skeletons armed with ancient bows. My arrow shots appear ineffective against the dark mages (though the skeletons go down easily), and with Stenvar already in close combat with them, I join him. Again, another fort soon lies covered in the blood of its former tenants. As an aside, Stenvar says to me that he wonders if we'll find some bandits spitting a rabbit, and a keg of ale. Aim high Stenvar, aim high.

We don't bother to clear out the fort, instead choosing to carry on through the mountain passes to discover more of the land beyond Windhelm. I soon find a narrow hole in the rock, the direly named Stillborn Cave. A snow bear attacks us, obviously waiting for our attention to be diverted. We kill it, and find some unidentified remains nearby. Someone or something met a gruesome end to this beast.

Carrying on up the mountain, I can hear the sound of battle ahead. Through the driving snow, I see a group of men in battle, and one group walks away from the dead of the others. I run up to them, and discover that some Stormcloaks have finished off their Imperial counterparts. The Stormcloaks don't seem concerned with checking the bodies, so I take what I deem useful. Stenvar is useful to have as a beast of burden, though he does expect to be given piles of gold rather than pieces of armour and weaponry.

The snow is incredibly heavy now, leaving the landscape in white or black shades with very little in between. Another depressing scene faces me - what I at first thought was a pile of rock is actually the remains of some refugees, their cart lying smashed at the side of the path. Just like the Stormcloaks, whoever killed these people haven't taken the food and potions scattered on the mountain side.

While I am doing this, I hear the roar of a dragon. I prepare myself for battle, but the beast does not show itself. Either the snow is too thick, or it intends to fight me on better ground. Did these refugees die from dragon fire I wonder?

We trudge on, gradually reaching the summit of the mountain, and it is here that the dragon chooses to attack. It is a Blood Dragon, tougher than the other types I have fought so far in these lands. It doesn't land, instead circling and breathing fire at us as it passes. Stenvar has his bow drawn, as do I, and I use each and every dwarven arrow I have in my quiver to bring the beast down. It crashes into the the snow, burning up in to ash and fire, before its skeleton comes to rest against a rock.

Once more, I pick the useful bits from the carcass, dragon bone and scale proving to be particularly heavy. And once more I employ Stenvar to carry them for me. Around the corner from the dragon fight, I find its roost - Mount Anthor - and pick more treasure from chests and corpses laying scattered. I also find another wall detailing a dragon word, and learn the word for "ice."