Took a break from the cloak and dagger of the thieves guild to patrol the Southern border of this fantastic land. Most of it I'd mapped already, but there were some fun parts including revisiting Helgen and eradicating the bandit scum that had taken residence in the ruins. Ren became frost troll chow a few caves later and I met an isolated archer girl called Angi who I wish I met earlier in the game. Pity she didn't want to join my team. I easily won her fun archery practice game and was glad that there was another imperial hating awesome archer in the land. Since I was in the area I decided to revisit the Falkreath Sanctuary and using my weeeeak magic decided to bring zombie-Astrid with me to Riverwood to see if anyone wanted to join my travels.
Unsurprisingly, the Whiterun allied guards there along with a few townsfolk I had -thought- were my friends all came to attack me. Zombie-Astrid did pretty well but was turned to ash by the mill-woman's rusty knife. After killing all those who opposed me I found the bard Sven who for some reason wanted to come along with me - most likely in hopes to have some of my fame rub off on him. He was a good guy, refusing to attack anyone (bandits) I asked him to. Alas the guards at the next town of Falkreath where I was to collect a bounty (from a friendly maid turned town steward! Awesome!) thought differently and ripped the aspiring bard a new one... With a war axe.
Found an ex-imperial named Conner to take his place at the Old Hroldan inn. Stayed the night too as I don't remember the last time my character slept. Woke up due to some screaming and a ghost looking for a sword. Finally I could get that thing out of my inventory. Continued exploration/clearing and after killing a Blood Horker pair I revisited the cave where the Redguard Alik'r Kematu was camped out. I asked him what he was still doing there having captured the girl he was looking for much earlier, and of the recent wandering Alik'r that attacked me. He offered no reply, and given that his men had unsheathed their weapons I figured the answer was clear.
After wiping him and his team out Conner and I found a bandit hideout near Whiterun I had completely missed. While he dueled a skilled blind bandit at the entrance I handled the rest of the scum and finished first before he finally ran the blind guy through. At the top of the summit was the bandit leader and Conner wanted to duel the guy so I let him. Conner was terribly outclassed but pulled off a fantastic last move - as the leader shoved his two handed sword through him, Conner somehow managed to push the guy off the platform sending both of them to a very messy and crunchy death on the jagged rocks below. I really wish I managed to video it.
