Traveling through The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Helgi squatted down and pushed aside the large pile of hay she had been sitting on, revealing a stone slab. The little girl tapped it lightly with her knuckles, making a dull sound.

"empty?"

Helgi raised his head and smiled proudly, "I found this on the first day, but I couldn't move it. Among the people who sent it, only two looked strong. But they didn't believe me. One of them even wanted to bully me, but I burned his pants, so I didn't tell them."

We both tried our best to lift the stone slab, revealing a hole less than one meter wide. It was pitch black below, and I didn't know what was going on. I pinched a magic light spell and threw the light ball in. This vertical shaft is about seven or eight meters deep, but the narrow part is only about two meters. There should be a spacious natural cave below. The light ball is limited in brightness, and the bottom of the well is blurry and unclear. At this height, if you jump down rashly, you will most likely break your legs, and there is a small chance that you will fall to your death.

"We need to find a rope or something. This is too risky."

Helgi was rummaging around in the cell, and I was trying to twist the hay together, but the rope I made was too short and weak to be useful. As we were struggling, we heard the door bang open, followed by footsteps.

"broken!"

It was too late to move the slab back to its original position. If this cave was discovered, we would definitely be under close surveillance, and it would be difficult to escape. Without time to think, I crawled into the cave, pressed my back against the wall, supported my legs against the opposite wall, and slowly moved down. After descending about two or three meters, the wall of the well narrowed a little. I stretched one leg downward, but there was no wall below. It was empty and I couldn't find anything. The magic light ball had gone out. I estimated that there was still about five meters to the bottom of the well, and this height was still unsafe.

"What are you doing!"

There was a loud shout from above my head. Helgi had been discovered. I sank down, holding onto the narrowing edge of the well wall with my hands, and my whole body was suspended in the air. Damn it! It's a blessing in disguise, but it's a disaster that can't be avoided! I'll take a gamble! I closed my eyes and made up my mind. I let go of my hands and fell down. During the fall, I deliberately put my legs together and slightly bent them to try to offset the impact of the hard landing.

With a "plop", I fell into a pool of foul-smelling mud and rolled over to relieve most of the force. My left foot was sprained and my body was covered in disgusting mud, but at least I could still move.

"Helgi, jump down!"

The little girl was so clever that she immediately got in after being discovered. However, she started to fall freely from the hole and screamed in fear. I don't know where I got the courage from, but I flew over and collided with her. We both fell to the ground and rolled over in each other's arms. We were both injured, but there was no sound of broken bones, so it shouldn't affect our mobility too much. It was pitch black all around, and I casually threw out a magic light spell. With the pale light, I could see the mud I stepped on. It was a corpse, already rotten, and I hit it again, the scene was unbearable to look at. There was a mattock not far from the corpse. It seemed that a former prisoner had dug this hole, but unfortunately fell to his death.

There was a torchlight coming from the cave entrance, and then someone shouted something like "a prisoner has escaped from prison". The voice gradually faded away, and it seemed that he was going to call for help. There was only one tunnel on the side of the cave. I grabbed the mattock and rushed towards the tunnel with Helgi. The tunnel was only wide enough for one person. The little girl could barely stand up straight, but I could only walk with my back bent. It was downhill all the way, which made me feel a lot more at ease. If I walked up, I might end up back in the fortress, which would be a lot of fun. After turning two corners, the cold wind blew even harder, and the view in front of us suddenly opened up. We were already standing at the foot of the mountain, facing a government road.

It was completely dark. It was the beginning of the month. The twin moons were dim and the sky was full of stars. I roughly determined the direction. I should be facing east. The official road in front of me was north-south. If I turned right, I would be heading to Falkreath. But it was too risky to go through the black pine forest at night. Bears might hibernate, but wolves wouldn't. They wouldn't care whether you were on the official road or not. I only had a mining hoe in my hand and ordinary clothes on. I might be able to deal with one or two wolves, but if I met a pack of wolves, I would be finished. If I went to find Lund, I would have to go around the southeast side of the Sun Garden Fortress. The enemy had already discovered that we had escaped. It would be too easy to be exposed if I did that.

"Can you still run?"

Helgi nodded, and we fled north along the official road. Going north also has risks. Helgi's hometown, Snake Cliff Ridge, is the serpentine defense position west of Loristed Town. Both places have fallen into the hands of the Empire. If we go there, it will be like walking into a trap. So we can only go east after entering Whiterun. The fortress behind us is already boiling. The Forsworns are gathering with drums and gongs, torches are waving, and the voices are noisy. I think someone will find our traces soon. After all, the official road of Whiterun is visible from the city wall, and the night sky is very clear today. I just hope we can run far enough, at least to escape the range of bows and arrows. The bows in the hands of the Forsworns are no joke, and they can be used until the middle and late stages of the game.

This official road is actually not very well built. There are large and small stones interlaced, and there is no one to maintain it on a daily basis. Now it is full of potholes. If a horse carriage is driving on it, it will make the people in it vomit. Not to mention compared with the national highway and provincial highway, even the dirt road outside the hometown village is much better than this. We ran for more than half an hour. Helgi's feet were mixed with garlic and fell to the ground. The little girl struggled for a long time but couldn't get up. When I stopped, I suddenly felt pain all over my body, especially my injured left foot. It was difficult to even stand. It was not a good idea to keep running like this. The official road was flat and open. One of us was lame and the other was just a thin little girl. Once we were discovered, we would not be able to escape.

"Helgi, hold on, let's go into the mountains."

"Will there be wild beasts?"

"That's better than getting caught. Come on, get up."

Helgi grabbed my hand and struggled to stand up. We supported each other and walked towards the Bretsin Mountains in the south. After climbing a small hill, we hid behind the trees and looked west. We could already see the flickering of fire. It seemed that the Forsworn were still searching in this direction. Thinking that the pursuers might catch up at any time, we cheered up and continued to move deeper into the mountains. In order to hide our tracks, we tried to find a place with deep grass and dense forests. At midnight, we wandered around in the wild and successfully got lost. But I was not panicked. As long as I kept the ridgeline on the right hand side, the general direction would be east. Then I could find an opportunity to go down the mountain and get back to the official road. The most important thing at the moment was to shake off the tail. I guessed that the Forsworn would not chase too far. They knew that the Imperial Legion was nearby and should go back to defend the city.

It is now the early evening of the moon, which is December. According to the calendar of the previous life, this time is around the time of the Big Snow solar term. The two of us have been running for most of the night and are exhausted. In addition, the sweat on our bodies was blown by the mountain wind, and we suddenly felt the chill. Helgi's lips have turned purple. The little girl hugged her shoulders and shivered so much that she couldn't even speak. Bear Grylls, who stands at the top of the food chain, once said that hypothermia is the most dangerous killer in the wilderness, and most survivors die at its hands. Once the core temperature drops to a certain level, the body will even "surrender", the muscles will no longer shiver and heat, the blood pressure will drop sharply, and consciousness will be lost. Even gods cannot save us.

Hypothermia does not necessarily require extreme cold, as evaporation of sweat can also take away body heat, so some people can even die from hypothermia on summer nights. To resist this terrible killer, you first need to find a sheltered place, take off your wet clothes to keep your body dry, then put on warm clothes, and then replenish high-calorie food while waiting for your body to recover. Bear Grylls even did push-ups naked in the snow. There was a cave in front of me, and I grabbed Helgi and rushed in.

"Helgi, move, you can't stop, or you'll die!"

It is very dangerous to venture into unexplored caves in the wild. The bears and trolls of Skyrim like to use such places as their lairs. If you encounter any of them, it will be a complete disaster.

But I can’t care.