When I last wrote I had just been named Thane of Whiterun by Jarl Balgruuf the Greater. He also appointed an aid of his, Lydia, to be my housecarl. Before setting my sights on High Hrothgar, I thought it’d be wise to do some adventuring. Thinking my best bet would be to aid the Companions, I asked what work they had for me.

I spoke with Farkas, one of the more respected members in the Companions and the twin brother of Vilkas. He told me that some bandits were calling Valtheim Keep to the west of Whiterun home and forcing passerby’s to pay a toll.

As Lydia and I reached the halfway point we ran into an older orc. I talked with him for a while and he informed me of his wish for a good death. Rather than grow old and feeble, male orcs prefer to die while they’re still in fighting condition. Lydia and I gave him the good death he was looking for.

We arrived at Valtheim Keep, a large tower with bridge extending across a river, and sure enough, the bandit we first saw didn’t take well to us not paying the toll. There were about a half dozen bandits and we took care of them without problems. Good loot afterwards; I made a pretty penny on my return to Whiterun.

There was another job lined up for me when I returned to Farkas. He directed me to Skjor, another well respected member of the Companions. Skjor must have seen much action in his life; a large scar was present on the right side of his face and his right eye appeared to be fake. He wanted me to travel Dustman’s Cairn to retrieve a fragment of a weapon that the founder of the Companions fought with. Farkas was to fight alongside me and judge whether I was ready to be a full-scale member of the Companions.

Dustman’s Cairn was an hour or two to the east of Whiterun. An ancient Nordic tomb, there were many Draugr and a gang of Silver Hand. The Silver Hands are a group who fight werewolves. This fact is ironic because I soon trapped myself and Farkas had to battle a half dozen Silver Hands. He turned into a werewolf! My jaw dropped while I was locked up and saw him shift and obliterate the Silver Hands. I’ll never forget that. When he released me we had a short chat and it turns out that the inner circle of the Companions are all werewolves. My nerves soon calmed once I realized that Farkas trusted me with this secret and we continued on.

Our journey into Dustman’s Cairn continued for many hours and we fought many more Silver Hands and a lot of Draugr. Draugr are undead Nordic warriors and they’re tough! I was lucky to happen upon many weapons made of silver on the bodies of dead Silver Hands members. Draugr are weak to silver and these weapons aided greatly. We were successful in retrieving the weapon fragment and when we made it back to the headquarters, the inner circle found out what I knew. They were fine with it and gladly accepted me as a full-scale member among them.

I’ve built up a nice chunk of change and I think my next step is to buy a house in Whiterun. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.