Skyrim - Nilheim

I head south-east towards a nearby lake. In the middle is a small island which we stroll through the water to - the water isn't very deep. I discover another tomb, Geirmund's Hall. Frankly, I had enough of wandering through ancient draugr-infested ruins earlier. So no, this one can wait for another time.

I can see an ominous dark tower further across the lake built atop a large mass of rock, and decide to investigate. This necessitates getting my feet wet again, but it is the only way we'll reach it. I just hope there aren't any slaughterfish in the shallows to chew at my shin bones.

Climbing up the bank, a man approaches me, claiming to be a merchant who was assaulted by the bandits in the tower who promptly stole all his gumpf. Naturally I can't let this sort of unjust incident go unpunished, otherwise I would not be the redoubtable adventurer Hedron the Collider!

Unsheathing my sword, I run up the pathway weaving through the rocks up to the tower. Bandits cockily announce themselves to me, but I run them through before they have a chance to finish their sentences. Stenvar follows closely, clearing up those who, in my bloodlust, I miss. The bandits are numerous, though all this does is form them into the anvil for our figurative hammer to smash.

We pause half way up the rocky path, mainly for me to check the dead for gold. The merchant catches up to me, and it is here that he reveals that it was all a trap to get me and Stenvar at this precise point! The only thing is, I've killed pretty much every living thing on this blasted hill. So when he pulls a simple iron dagger on me, it almost seems unfair for me to strike him down. This must be done though, for I fear we are not the first to have fallen for this.

I leave him to slump onto a nearby boulder, and we carry on up the path. A handlful of bandits and marauders try to stop us reaching the tower, but to no avail. They literally walk in the valley of death.

The tower, I find, is called Nilheim, and comprises a single black spike of stonework balanced on the edge of the lake. No one else has hung around for me to exact vengeance on, so I do a quick sweep of the place for things to loot, and make my way to the exit.

Things take a turn for the dramatic as reptile wings beat dust around us - a blood dragon blocks our path. But it doesn't attack us, choosing to breathe fire down upon some bandits which seem to have escaped the purge. This plays nicely into my hands, allowing me to fire orcish arrows ceaselessly towards the airbourne doom-monger.


Before it collapses to the dusty ground dead, it manages to kill the remaining bandits. I salute it for that at least.