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The Probably Incredible Adventures of Kreddick Chapter 1
Kreddick
Soul Shriven
Chapter 1: Stagnant Fields
Bandits, a plague on the people of Tamriel. Though many throughout it have learned to dehumanize them and putting them on the level of Daedra or other evil beings, but in the vast Fjords of Skyrim lived a bandit group named "The Black Pyre." The leader of these bandits was a great hulking Nord by the name of Escrag, who had a son he named Kreddick. Kreddick's mother was among the strangest things among the great landscapes of Skyrim, a Breton noble woman who had strayed from her pampered life and joined the group for a few years. When Kreddick was born she left, the reason nobody really knew except his father, and he would not reveal it. What most would say about the group is they were not so much bandits as they were a small faction, they had families, children, women, men and an old fort with lodgings. However this would not be considered when you see the things they did to travelers and villagers, killing horses, stealing supplies, and raiding towns, the hold so preoccupied with the conflicts down south and attacks from Reachmen that they could not afford to send guards or hirelings
On a foggy dimly lit morning Kreddick went hunting with his father in the nearby hills of Riverwood, spotting a deer Escrag aimed his son forward and whispered to him a proverb that Kreddick would remember into adulthood.
"The beast is unaware of its fate but its ignorance does not make it safe;
Be aware my son, for the world will continue to burn with or without you."
"Now draw your arrow, place it on the string and aim, we'll feast good tonight child."
As he drew his bow the string snapped whipping Kreddick across his eye, his father shot up from the bushes and fired an arrow into the beast before it could escape. On the ground Kreddick cried as the string had left a deep cut through his skull, his father grabbed him and looked him in the eye before telling him in a deep voice. "Calm yourself boy you are a NORD! Is this what Ysgramor will see in Sovngarde, a wailing boy on his knees, STAND TALL CHILD!" Kreddick picked himself up after his father let him go, he stood and wiped the blood from his face and roared at his bow before stomping on it with as much fury as a small boy could muster, his father stood and laughed a hearty laugh in the face of his innocent anger.
The other children in the camp did not take kindly to Kreddick, they would tease him like normal children do, due to his half Breton nature they called him a quart-blood short for quarter elf, mage-mud, milk-drinker. But then there were the fights, in his teenage years he would get in many scuffles with the men and other teenagers in camp. Coming back to his fathers part of the castle almost every night with bruises, mostly through his own fault as he had a tendency to lose his temper easily. His father took him one night to the camps training grounds, and told him, "I won't fight your battles for you son but I will teach you to fight them." He trained every day from that point forward how to throw a punch, how to drop an opponent with a kick, he grew strong and the other kids rarely insulted him after that. He focused his attention at the age of 14 to swing a blade, he would continue his personal tradition and practice every night in the training grounds.
He asked his father to bring him books back on his journey so he could learn to read, he struggled at first but he eventually understood the words like he understood the back of his boots. On his free time he learned of the places beyond the borders of Skyrim, the morals and cultures he had no way to reach. About the great deserts of Hammerfell littered with the dark and cramped Dwemer ruins, the kingdom of High Rock where his mother came from, a place of half elves, wizards, knights and high adventure! The ashy landscapes of Morrowind and the resilient Dunmer. The great forests of Valenwood with the soft spoken Bosmer hunters. And the ever mysterious marshes of Argonia.
When he turned 16 he had outgrown the bandit life, but afraid of what his father would think he made a plan to leave with scorn in his eyes against the people around him and a remorseful sadness in not seeing his father before he left. The moons were brighter than an average night as the sparkling shine from them washed over the landscape and gave Kreddick the courage to finally leave. He walked east towards Eastmarch, until he ended up in the snowy city of Windhelm. He basked in the vast halls, the closest city he saw up until then was Whiterun and even that was never in full grasp. The tall wooden structures daunted him as he gulped down the anxiety of his pseudo escape. He wandered around town for what felt like hours until he heard some men talking about a boat down at the dock, they whispered to each other not unlike criminals about plans to set sail soon onto the Sea of Ghosts, something Kreddick had read extensively upon. Curious about this expedition he went down to the dock finding an average sized warship being supplied by the dock hands while they were being yelled at by a peculiar Redguard, he wore a padded tunic of traditional Redguard style and a dark Turban covering his lower face. The Redguard took one look at the bewildered young man smirking to himself as he leaped from his box and pulled down his mask approaching the newcomer.
"You there young man!" He yelled with a mild Redguard accent, Kreddick turning around startled by the mans approach shyly asks,
"Yes sir am I doing something wrong."
"You look lost boy, perhaps you need a bit of direction."
"What do you have in mind sir, I just arrived here from Whiterun."
"Our crew is heading off to the open sea for some, business." The Redguard man said quietly looking at the guards to his left and right making sure they did not hear.
"Look lad we're pirates no way to cut it shorter and we got room on our crew, now this might be suspicious that I am telling you this so forwardly here, but I've made it a sort of personal goal of mine to give some resourceful men an opportunity. But more importantly I need someone I can trust." he said as Kreddick looked down for a moment before the man continued.
"Coin is coin boy, we travel across all of Tamriel in search of fame and fortune!" Suddenly remembering all the stories and places he read about in his books he lifted his head and confidently told the stranger.
"I'm in."
"Fantastic! I'll inform the crew, my name is Jaleth B'act, and yours?"
"Kreddick."
"That all?"
"All I know..." Kreddick replied with a similar smirk, Jaleth then looked peculiarly to the right before grabbing Kreddick's shoulder and slowly built up a hearty laugh in excitement as he ran back to his crew and beckoned for the young man to come before handing him a brand new iron cutlass and a set of sailors clothes. "Welcome aboard lad! Welcome aboard the Sea Shaper and her crew!"
NEXT TIME ON THE ADVENTURES OF KREDDICK: Chapter 2: Nautical Madness
Bandits, a plague on the people of Tamriel. Though many throughout it have learned to dehumanize them and putting them on the level of Daedra or other evil beings, but in the vast Fjords of Skyrim lived a bandit group named "The Black Pyre." The leader of these bandits was a great hulking Nord by the name of Escrag, who had a son he named Kreddick. Kreddick's mother was among the strangest things among the great landscapes of Skyrim, a Breton noble woman who had strayed from her pampered life and joined the group for a few years. When Kreddick was born she left, the reason nobody really knew except his father, and he would not reveal it. What most would say about the group is they were not so much bandits as they were a small faction, they had families, children, women, men and an old fort with lodgings. However this would not be considered when you see the things they did to travelers and villagers, killing horses, stealing supplies, and raiding towns, the hold so preoccupied with the conflicts down south and attacks from Reachmen that they could not afford to send guards or hirelings
On a foggy dimly lit morning Kreddick went hunting with his father in the nearby hills of Riverwood, spotting a deer Escrag aimed his son forward and whispered to him a proverb that Kreddick would remember into adulthood.
"The beast is unaware of its fate but its ignorance does not make it safe;
Be aware my son, for the world will continue to burn with or without you."
"Now draw your arrow, place it on the string and aim, we'll feast good tonight child."
As he drew his bow the string snapped whipping Kreddick across his eye, his father shot up from the bushes and fired an arrow into the beast before it could escape. On the ground Kreddick cried as the string had left a deep cut through his skull, his father grabbed him and looked him in the eye before telling him in a deep voice. "Calm yourself boy you are a NORD! Is this what Ysgramor will see in Sovngarde, a wailing boy on his knees, STAND TALL CHILD!" Kreddick picked himself up after his father let him go, he stood and wiped the blood from his face and roared at his bow before stomping on it with as much fury as a small boy could muster, his father stood and laughed a hearty laugh in the face of his innocent anger.
The other children in the camp did not take kindly to Kreddick, they would tease him like normal children do, due to his half Breton nature they called him a quart-blood short for quarter elf, mage-mud, milk-drinker. But then there were the fights, in his teenage years he would get in many scuffles with the men and other teenagers in camp. Coming back to his fathers part of the castle almost every night with bruises, mostly through his own fault as he had a tendency to lose his temper easily. His father took him one night to the camps training grounds, and told him, "I won't fight your battles for you son but I will teach you to fight them." He trained every day from that point forward how to throw a punch, how to drop an opponent with a kick, he grew strong and the other kids rarely insulted him after that. He focused his attention at the age of 14 to swing a blade, he would continue his personal tradition and practice every night in the training grounds.
He asked his father to bring him books back on his journey so he could learn to read, he struggled at first but he eventually understood the words like he understood the back of his boots. On his free time he learned of the places beyond the borders of Skyrim, the morals and cultures he had no way to reach. About the great deserts of Hammerfell littered with the dark and cramped Dwemer ruins, the kingdom of High Rock where his mother came from, a place of half elves, wizards, knights and high adventure! The ashy landscapes of Morrowind and the resilient Dunmer. The great forests of Valenwood with the soft spoken Bosmer hunters. And the ever mysterious marshes of Argonia.
When he turned 16 he had outgrown the bandit life, but afraid of what his father would think he made a plan to leave with scorn in his eyes against the people around him and a remorseful sadness in not seeing his father before he left. The moons were brighter than an average night as the sparkling shine from them washed over the landscape and gave Kreddick the courage to finally leave. He walked east towards Eastmarch, until he ended up in the snowy city of Windhelm. He basked in the vast halls, the closest city he saw up until then was Whiterun and even that was never in full grasp. The tall wooden structures daunted him as he gulped down the anxiety of his pseudo escape. He wandered around town for what felt like hours until he heard some men talking about a boat down at the dock, they whispered to each other not unlike criminals about plans to set sail soon onto the Sea of Ghosts, something Kreddick had read extensively upon. Curious about this expedition he went down to the dock finding an average sized warship being supplied by the dock hands while they were being yelled at by a peculiar Redguard, he wore a padded tunic of traditional Redguard style and a dark Turban covering his lower face. The Redguard took one look at the bewildered young man smirking to himself as he leaped from his box and pulled down his mask approaching the newcomer.
"You there young man!" He yelled with a mild Redguard accent, Kreddick turning around startled by the mans approach shyly asks,
"Yes sir am I doing something wrong."
"You look lost boy, perhaps you need a bit of direction."
"What do you have in mind sir, I just arrived here from Whiterun."
"Our crew is heading off to the open sea for some, business." The Redguard man said quietly looking at the guards to his left and right making sure they did not hear.
"Look lad we're pirates no way to cut it shorter and we got room on our crew, now this might be suspicious that I am telling you this so forwardly here, but I've made it a sort of personal goal of mine to give some resourceful men an opportunity. But more importantly I need someone I can trust." he said as Kreddick looked down for a moment before the man continued.
"Coin is coin boy, we travel across all of Tamriel in search of fame and fortune!" Suddenly remembering all the stories and places he read about in his books he lifted his head and confidently told the stranger.
"I'm in."
"Fantastic! I'll inform the crew, my name is Jaleth B'act, and yours?"
"Kreddick."
"That all?"
"All I know..." Kreddick replied with a similar smirk, Jaleth then looked peculiarly to the right before grabbing Kreddick's shoulder and slowly built up a hearty laugh in excitement as he ran back to his crew and beckoned for the young man to come before handing him a brand new iron cutlass and a set of sailors clothes. "Welcome aboard lad! Welcome aboard the Sea Shaper and her crew!"
NEXT TIME ON THE ADVENTURES OF KREDDICK: Chapter 2: Nautical Madness
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