4.2 Windhelm and Solitude

      First thing I did was travel to Solitude. Instead of taking the long way and walking all the way there, I found a carriage and paid someone to take me there. Upon arrival the guards greeted me and said that I was just in time for the execution. Such a great welcome to the city of the Imperials, who I didn’t choose at the start of the game. Looking inside the local inn I found a bard who sang “Age of Aggression” for me. It turned out to be a song about how Ulfric and the Stormcloaks were evil. Traveling further into Solitude I found what appeared to be captains of the army arguing about what to do. Saying that Ulfric was going to attack and such. It seems that the city is trying to appeal to me through a sense of urgency and that Imperials are right and that’s how it should be.

      Afterwards I decided to head to Windhelm to see what the deal with the Stormcloaks was. As soon as I entered Windhelm I heard some people arguing with a dark elf. This hinted that there was some sort of problem between the nords and dark elves in Windhelm. No execution yet though. So Windhelm is a little better than Solitude so far. After finding the inn I asked the bard to play “Age of Oppression”. It was pretty much about how they want to rebel against the imperials. Afterwards I went to the main building and listened to the conversation between Ulfric and his advisor. What I got from Windhelm is that they don’t want to be brought down and want to fight for Skyrim

      I feel like both cities appealed many elements of a complex claim. Windhelm with the rebellion and Solitude with opposition. A roadmap can be seen as each side thinking that a battle is going to take place. Stakes are whether they will stay oppressed or not. A counterclaim is a little tricky though. If you were to take both sides into account you could say that the counterclaim is the opposing sides reasoning. 
       This was an interesting part of the game. It was trying to get me to make a choice between the Imperials and the Stormcloaks. Although for me both sides didn't seem that appealing. I didn't want to have sort of restriction with the a side if I chose the other one. So I decided to just leave.For something that doesn't relate to the main story it may just be better to leave it neutral. This may apply to everyday life between social interactions. It may be more beneficial if you aren't pressured into taking a side and remain neutral. Of course this doesn't always work because some things you have to make a decision on.

4.1 Dragon Rising

                So apparently a big bad dragon appeared and everyone is panicking. Thinking quickly the Jarl assigns his mercenaries to go investigate the area where the dragon was reported. Since I was around he asked me to join them. So at the request of the Jarl I followed the mercenaries. I ended up following them to the entrance of Whiterun where I saw them have some sort of meeting before leaving the town. After a quick little meeting we went straight to the western watchtower. Upon arrival you could see that the watchtower had been badly damaged.  With the grass on fire and many soldiers already injured you could tell something bad attacked. Leading you to believe it was indeed a dragon.

                A few moments later one of the soldiers shouted, “Its back”. It might’ve been helpful if the solider pointed in the direction he saw it in, but I guess I’m just slow compared to the rest. A little bit later a dragon swooped in out of nowhere. Before I knew it I was being roasted alive by the dragon’s fire breath. Good thing Suk can take the heat. Afterwards the dragon landed and our time to attack was here. The legendary dragon was no match for Suk and the Jarls army. A few good shots and swings and the dragon was done. Of course that wasn’t enough. Suk had to absorb the dragon’s powers too. Let it be known that Suk is Dovahkiin.

                This fight demonstrated that my character is becoming more powerful. Things like hacking and slashing are no problem for Suk. After killing the dragon your character becomes something like a superhero in the world of Skyrim. Being able to do these mystical shouts. Of course the growth can’t end there. There has to be more shouts to discover. 

3.2 Bleak Falls Barrow

     So it seems like I already did a huge part of the quest “Bleak Falls Barrow”. I might as well elaborate on some of the things I noticed while exploring that cave. Something that I thought was a nice touch is how the deeper you went into the cave, the less bandits you saw. Just a little thing I thought was nice.  The cave itself had a couple of puzzles. One puzzle was in a room where if you put in the wrong answer and pulled the lever you would have a fun time being impaled by arrows. As my friend Bandit E showed me. Another thing I noticed was how spider webs were everywhere, hinting that maybe just maybe the next room will have something to do with spiders. I’m sure that was a lot of fun for many people. After the spider room there was another puzzle. This involved a door with three revolving pieces and three indents. The three indents where in a claw shape so I guess that was there way of hinting that you should check out the golden claw before going on. Inspecting the claw you can see that the code was actually on it. After getting past that the only notable thing would be the end where you have this huge wall filled with text and a super strong draugr pop out and attack you. Killing the draugr lets you loot the dragonstone which is what I needed for the quest. So I was able to give the dragonstone to the wizard looking guy. What came next was just a bunch of text and a sighting of a dragon.

   The way that the request appeared earlier seemed to be Skyrim's way of telling the player that doing more is good, as it saved me the trouble of having to make a roundtrip to Riverwood. This was the moment I felt really happy that I decided to do this. It felt rewarding when I was able to flaunt that I already did his task for him. Of course naturally this wanted me to continue to play well. This sort of thing could be applied to a wide variety of situations. An easy one would be when I do well on a test. I feel like I really know what I'm doing and am encouraged to do even better the next time.

      

3.1 Whiterun

                The first thing I noticed while I was walking around Whiterun is the priest who is hanging around in the town square. Shouting all this nonsense about Talos. I figured I might as well see what Talos was. He told me that Talos was a nord who became a godly figure. With his limitless wisdom and power. He also had this nifty ability called the “voice”. I guess he had the power to use shouts too. It seemed like worshipping Talos brought out the extreme in the priest as he said he wasn’t afraid of being arrested.               

                Talking with various residents gave me the feeling the Whiterun is a city full of mainly nords. Many residents would casually drop in the fact that they are a nord. For example one resident said something about being a strong nord. While another person was complaining how female nords should be able to do anything a male nord can. Be it slaying a giant or cooking a meal.

                Something I noticed was the lack of non-human races. I didn’t see one argonian or khajit while exploring Whiterun. Maybe I just didn’t search the right places. One resident actually told me that khajits are supposed to be skilled in trade. The conversation with her also gave me the feeling that khajits don’t have the best reputation out of the races in skyrim. That explains why so many people say “don’t even try” when I just happen to crouch behind them.
                 Whiterun was the first major city I was exposed to. Immediately I could tell that I couldn't get away with as many things as I did in Riverwood. I felt like the reinforced the idea that Riverwood was made to be a place where players who noticed, could take advantage of all the items laying around.

2.2 Before the Storm

     The quest "Before the Storm" had me go talk to the Jarl of Whiterun. But before doing so I figured I should finish up the requests of the residents of Riverwood. The trader of Riverwood asked that I retrieve his precious claw from a group of bandits who stole it from him. Being the hero that Suk is, how could I refuse. So I went into the mountains in search of a group of bandits. What I found was a group of bandits scattered throughout a dungeon. Progressing through the dungeon I couldn't help but notice fewer and fewer bandits kept showing up. One bandit was even kind pull a lever for me. Unfortunately he didn't have the solution to the wall puzzle and was impaled by a bunch of arrows.  
      Going deeper into the dungeon I found some guy trapped in a web and then suddenly a giant spider. After the spider this guy wanted me to cut him down in exchange for the claw he stole. The lesson here is to never trust a bandit. As soon as he was freed he ran for his life. Unfortunately for him spiders aren't the only aggressive things in this dungeon. With the claw I just had to find my way out. So I continued onwards and found the exit. This dungeon was the first instance where Skyrim tested my problem solving skills.
    With the last request taken care of it was time to head to Whiterun. Outside the massive city I figured I would explore for a bit. But most of the doors were locked. So naturally I decided to lock pick them. Everything was going well until I passed a guard. Let's just say one thing lead to another and I magically ended up infront of the building where the Jarl is supposed to be. So with this I was able to easily accomplish my task and warned the Jarl about the dragon. Surprisingly the Jarl wasn't very worried when I told him I had escaped an execution. Overall I feel like the conversation with the Jarl wouldn't have ended up too differently. I mean I told the guy the imperials captured me and were about the execute me. The guy just brushed it off saying it doesn't matter to him.
      So far I feel like my character is becoming the scum of Skyrim. I literally try to steal from everyone and pick up any gold I see. For the most part playing as a thief hasn't had any negative consequences. The only really notable one would be when the blacksmith from Riverwood wouldn't leave me alone. Even then it wasn't that bad. With this in mind I feel like I would still be welcomed by anyone regardless of whether I tried to play the good guy or the bad guy.

2.1 Riverwood

   After escaping Helgen I ended up outside of a cave with my pal Ralof. Ralof was pretty helpful when it came to clearing some things up. I was able to ask things like who is Ulfric and why was he captured.  Speaking with Ralof helped me understand the kind of setting the world of Skyrim takes place. Skyrim being a fantasy land in the midst of some kind of dispute.
    Following Ulfric led me to a nice little town called "Riverwood". In Riverwood I met his sister and husband. His sister was pretty friendly offering me supplies and a key to her house. The husband on the other hand gave off the impression that he didn't like me staying. Walking around I noticed I was able to talk to almost everyone and was allowed to do many things from simply trading or taking up requests.
     The most amazing thing was the option to pickpocket or just steal something off of someones desk. Since I found a couple traders earlier I came up with a quick get rich quick scheme. Just take some loot I found laying around and then sell it to the nearest merchant. Unfortunately this plan was foiled. Apparently you can't sell stolen loot. What made this even worse was a villager called Alvor. I had a feeling he was catching onto me because he followed me around town for most of the night. Of course this villagers actions ruined my plan of just stealing gold from around town. So naturally I decided to take the smithing supplies he had laying around his work area. Sure this decision might not have been the best, seeing as some of the villagers were kind enough to let me stay with them. But I feel it was justified.
     Something I noticed while exploring Riverwood is that it seemed like the three claims had changed. Before arriving the three claims revolved around us (the prisoners) escaping execution and hiding in the town of Riverwood. After talking to the villagers it seemed like the three claims were moving from that to the sudden appearance of a dragon. It feels like the fact that I escaped didn't matter anymore. That the main problem was that dragons are here and were troublesome. Even though one happened to save us. Just saying.
    What I noticed was Riverwood had an abundance of treasure if you were willing to dig for it. This is where I feel like Skyrim was allowing me to use my awareness skills to look around and give myself an edge when starting out. For example the smithing supplies. They were useful for upgrading my equipment allowing my character to have better gear. This could also be applied to something like doing a lab. Usually when people are doing a lab they just follow the procedure and go step by step until the end, which is extremely inefficient. But something I have been doing lately was looking ahead and seeing where I can optimize my time. Doing this allowed me and my lab partner to avoid a few close calls when it came to doing labs. In this case reading ahead was like finding the smithing supplies. It better prepared me for the future.

1.2 Unbound

     So I decided to play as a Khajit in Skyrim. I decided to play as the cat race mainly because I liked the way they looked compared to the other races. Since Skyrim is a fantasy game I might as well pick a race doesn't resemble a human. Plus the bonuses seemed pretty nice.
      In my play through I decided to follow the Stormcloaks. It didn't really make much sense to decide to follow the Imperials, considering they were about to have me beheaded. Sure he may have lead me to the exit where I met my old pal. But why choose him when I can just choose to go with Ralof.
     After following Ralof we ended up fighting many imperials inside the keep and found a lot of decent loot. I can only imagine where my character manages to keep all of those pieces of armor, weapons, and food he picked up. It's disappointing when you become overburdened from taking too many things though. All of that free money you have to leave behind.
     After exploring deeper into the keep we ended up "saving" some fellow Stormcloaks from the torturer and his helper. Sadly Stormcloak A was already dead when I arrived and Stormcloak B got into an unfortunate accident later on in the cave. Who knew it would be so easy to accidentally kill someone. It's unfortunate our Stormcloack allies couldn't make it out of the cave, but Ralof lead me out with little trouble.