Part 11: Butchering, Butchering, Butchering

So now that the Jarl has been told of the danger of dragons, I can do a bit of relaxing. I've been traveling a lot recently. I deserve a bit of a relaxing day, and then I can go out and hunt. I'm in a comfortable zone with money, but I will still need more if I'm to buy a house or even marry.

Because, I do want to marry, of course. And I actually have my eye on one lady in particular.

Ysolda, you are a simple woman. You merely need a mammoth tusk to be happy. And, despite the danger to my well-being, I cannot resist the call. You shall have your mammoth tusk. And it will be...mammothy...and tusky.

Okay, so I'm not great with my words, but she got my meaning.

But today. Today is for relaxing.

As I head out to check on Arrow, I see the Jarl's orders have meaning behind them. I'm impressed, actually. I didn't expect him to really send guards out to Riverwood.

There he goes, running off to Riverwood. Good luck!

I take a snack break from helping farmers in the fields--after what I've been through, yes, that's relaxing.

And then I found it. Ysolda's house. Isn't it just quaint? I will capture her heart!

To prepare for my hunting trip the next day, I craft a small fur tent to keep in the heat from a fire. Leather helps against rain, and fur helps against cold, however, rain can actually water log your fur tent and make it useless.

A little stroll around town never hurt anyone!

And of course, a bit of merrymaking!

I wake up very early the next morning, ready for a hunt.

I stop by the shrine of Kynareth to ask for a blessing, and to heal my disease. It hadn't effected me too much, but I feel much better after getting rid of it.

So tempting to just buy it off of this Khajiit...but no, to truly win my love, I must take down the mighty mammoth on my own!

The camp in view, I stop for a moment, wondering if I really want to go through with this. I pat Arrow on the neck, reassuring him.

You stay here, buddy. I'll be back. Don't want you getting squished by a giant, now, do we?

There's the mammoth....and a giant. I really have no choice but to take that giant out. I fire off a few arrows in its direction, and it immediately finds me crouching in this shrubbery.

Ride like the wind, Arrow!

After wearing the giant down, I finally bag it! I feel a little sorry as it's majestic (yet hideous) form crashes to the ground.

Ysolda really better like this tusk. I'm going through great lengths to get this.

I tried to lead one mammoth away from the pack, but two of 'em got close together, so I run off, the pit of my stomach lurching at the thought of one of those tusks meeting my head.

I run straight into this.

Where bandits attack me. Come on, guys! Full grown mammoth headed this way!

I dispatch them as quickly as I can, panicking about the mammoth slowly getting closer. I've managed to lure it away from it's partner, so I keep firing my bow, drawing it ever closer.

Found a nice vantage point that it can't get up to (I hope), and it seems to just be okay standing there taking arrow after arrow in the side.

And then, finally:

VICTORY!

I pitch my tent nearby and sharpen my tools, prepared to butcher the massive carcass. I figure it might take a day or so to get everything,

It...it takes a little longer than that.

Day One.

Day Two.

Day three. By this time, I have so much meat, I can't carry it all, so my hot air balloon kit deployed (For those who don't know, your character can only hold so much before you are unable to run. This kit gets around that, and I had made it earlier, just didn't say anything about it, because I wasn't sure what it did. Now I know.).

Day four.

Worked through the night.

Day five. See that bandit? That's how I feel. So tired.

Day six.

Worked through the night.

Day 7. Morning.

Day eight. Started to rain, so I took shelter. That's blood from the butchering process on the screen.

Day eight was just miserable. I didn't get any work done.

And then, finally, two days later, the carcass was done! I got everything!

I got 1590 pieces of mammoth meat. Holy Mara, guys. That's a lot of meat.

In your face! Who's a great hunter now!?

I cleaned up and rushed over to where Ysolda was, holding out her mammoth tusk. I offered it to her with great flair.

I don't mind so much now about that speech skill. I'm getting much better!

After the adventure of butchering a gigantic mammoth, I'm tired as anything. After a bit more trading, I'm heading to the inn to sleep. Good night, sweet Skyrim.

Part 10 ----- Part 12