Conversations We Didn't Have in Skyrim, Part 13

[wshaffer]

Previous installments under skyrim-conversations.

You have no idea how difficult it is to extract yourself from a freezing ocean when you've dropped your game controller because you are laughing too hard.

I'm not the first to observe this, but I was really surprised that Skyrim lacks any kind of mechanic for hypothermia. I spent quite a bit of time in the game assiduously avoiding getting wet when temperatures were below freezing, only to discover that there wasn't any point.

----

So, I'm really not sure how Farkas is going to take the news that Kodlak's ghost has proclaimed me the new Harbinger of the Companions. Especially since we haven't had a chance to discuss the Frostbite Spider Incident yet. I'd rather have cleared the air on that before telling Farkas that I'm his new boss, but the pace of events didn't allow for that.

He seems to take it well. "Hey, I always do what you tell me to, anyway. So that's fine."

He doesn't always do what I tell him to. Not remotely. But at the moment, the profession of loyalty means more than strict accuracy.

"Thanks." I look around. We're standing outside Ysgramor's Tomb, on this little island up in the middle of a frozen sea. "So, hey, there's this nice little barrow not far from here. Got a magic sword in it or something. You wanna go, poke around, whack some draugr?"

He shakes his head slowly. "Nah. That's okay. I think I'm going to just...look around for a bit. I'll see you back in Whiterun."

Look around for a bit? We're in the middle of nowhere. Farkas, seeming rather distracted, sets off across an ice sheet that is already cracked and buckling.

"Farkas?" I call after him. He seems to be lost in thought. "Farkas, I'm not really sure that that ice sheet is up to supporting one large fully armored Nord warrior."

I hear a growl drift back towards me over the ice. "Okay, whatever, you're the one who's going to get hypothermia if--" I suddenly realize that the growl was not Farkas. "Farkas! Snow bear incoming! On your left!"

Farkas doesn't even see the bear, which charges him and knocks him down. Swearing, I summon my sword and charge across the ice sheet, which crumbles under my weight, dropping me into the dark, cold water. I flail, holding my breath, bumping my helmet against the ice from below. Just when I think I'm a goner, I find the gap I fell through and haul myself back up onto the ice.

Kneeling on the ice, panting, I can hear Farkas attempting to surrender to the bear. I don't think that's going to work.

I stagger to my feet and charge at the bear. It turns its attention away from Farkas to me. The bear is tough, but it's no match for me. When it's dead, I look around and Farkas is gone.

For a moment, I think he's fallen through the ice and I'm going to have to dive for him, but I see a trail of slightly bloody bootprints leading away across the ice towards the mainland, and, in the distance, a tall figure carrying a two-handed sword trudging along.

I think about going after him. But I decide that my shield-brother clearly needs a little space to think about things.