I was journeying along just east of Helgen, at the shrine of Clavicus Vile, when I stumbled across three Thalmor and a prisoner. Like any good Nord I quickly gutted the Thalmor, and gave the prisoner one of the sets of Elven armor, a magnificent glass mace, and a ruby and sent him on his way.
After finishing looting the bodies (and tossing one off a cliff for good measure) I set out again, incidentally in the same direction as the prisoner. Just a few turns of the trail later I came across him fighting some wolves, with his bare hands and in rags, and well let's just say he wasn't winning. So I dispatched the wolves for him and decided if he was too stubborn to put on the beautiful armor or use the mace, I would escort him safely to where ever he was headed. Truthfully I expected him to vanish at the next bend, or stop until I left, but no... No, he just took off headlong down the mountain.
So our journey began, a ragged prisoner with the endurance of a Kenyan, and me lagging behind with fifteen stamina potions at the ready. We quickly descended past Helgen, he paused to look at the burned corpses, but it didn't phase him one bit. We killed some rogue mages and a sabre cat by the time we reached Riverwood. I thought he might enter a building there and be lost forever, but no he just tromped right across the bridge towards Whiterun and shortly thereafter right past Whiterun...
We reached Valtheim Towers as night set in, and our running attracted the attention of far too many bandits. Luckily the door and stairway prevented Mr. Prisoner-in-Rags-but-thinks-he's-a-Hero from charging past and getting a sword to the neck. I bravely took the bandits one by one and as soon as the last one fell the prisoner took the trail yet again, albeit sporting an arrow in his shoulder.
Now I knew for sure he was headed straight for Windhelm. He displayed some rather ingenious strategies at this point, while he had spent the entire trip on the trail when suddenly he veered off into the brush and jumped in the water avoiding a bridge with people walking along it. He cut a few corners and before I knew it we crested a hill and Windhelm was in sight. We, well, I breathed a sigh of relief (I don't think he even breathes, the guy's a machine) as we got to the last turn.
Then, of course ,right as we were so close to our goal, a snow wolf jumped out of nowhere and nails the prisoner. I turned to look, see a flash, pull my trusty right trigger, and do one of those super cool cutscene stabbings by catching the second wolf in mid leap. When I turned back to the prisoner he is staggered to his knees. Thankfully the snow wolf saw me as the bigger threat and turned to attack me. I put the animal down as quickly as possible (I just can't bear the yelping) and waited for Mr. I'm-not-so-brave-anymore-prisoner to stand up. We marched right up to the gate of Windhelm and I waited as the former prisoner entered the city...
To my surprise when I entered he was right there beside to me. Without skipping a beat, he sprinted at his usual pace straight past Candlehearth Hall (You'd think you would want a drink after running across half of Skyrim, I know I did) and entered into the Palace of the Kings.
I followed right behind, and then lo and behold he stood next to the door with a mace on his hip. Still to proud to put the armor on... But there he was alive and back home. I assume he's still there. I waited for him two days and two nights and he scarcely moved. I must say that man is nothing if not diligent.
And there ends my tale. I was offered naught an ounce of gold, not a word of thanks, yet I know one man lives today, that without me, would either be being tortured in some Thalmor prison, or in the stomach of some wolf, sabre cat, hungry necromancer, or hibernating bear or who knows what.
So the next time you come across a prisoner, take him home! It's not okay to just free him, it's essentially a death sentence, this world is a dangerous place, and frankly he's an idiot.
After finishing looting the bodies (and tossing one off a cliff for good measure) I set out again, incidentally in the same direction as the prisoner. Just a few turns of the trail later I came across him fighting some wolves, with his bare hands and in rags, and well let's just say he wasn't winning. So I dispatched the wolves for him and decided if he was too stubborn to put on the beautiful armor or use the mace, I would escort him safely to where ever he was headed. Truthfully I expected him to vanish at the next bend, or stop until I left, but no... No, he just took off headlong down the mountain.
So our journey began, a ragged prisoner with the endurance of a Kenyan, and me lagging behind with fifteen stamina potions at the ready. We quickly descended past Helgen, he paused to look at the burned corpses, but it didn't phase him one bit. We killed some rogue mages and a sabre cat by the time we reached Riverwood. I thought he might enter a building there and be lost forever, but no he just tromped right across the bridge towards Whiterun and shortly thereafter right past Whiterun...
We reached Valtheim Towers as night set in, and our running attracted the attention of far too many bandits. Luckily the door and stairway prevented Mr. Prisoner-in-Rags-but-thinks-he's-a-Hero from charging past and getting a sword to the neck. I bravely took the bandits one by one and as soon as the last one fell the prisoner took the trail yet again, albeit sporting an arrow in his shoulder.
Now I knew for sure he was headed straight for Windhelm. He displayed some rather ingenious strategies at this point, while he had spent the entire trip on the trail when suddenly he veered off into the brush and jumped in the water avoiding a bridge with people walking along it. He cut a few corners and before I knew it we crested a hill and Windhelm was in sight. We, well, I breathed a sigh of relief (I don't think he even breathes, the guy's a machine) as we got to the last turn.
Then, of course ,right as we were so close to our goal, a snow wolf jumped out of nowhere and nails the prisoner. I turned to look, see a flash, pull my trusty right trigger, and do one of those super cool cutscene stabbings by catching the second wolf in mid leap. When I turned back to the prisoner he is staggered to his knees. Thankfully the snow wolf saw me as the bigger threat and turned to attack me. I put the animal down as quickly as possible (I just can't bear the yelping) and waited for Mr. I'm-not-so-brave-anymore-prisoner to stand up. We marched right up to the gate of Windhelm and I waited as the former prisoner entered the city...
To my surprise when I entered he was right there beside to me. Without skipping a beat, he sprinted at his usual pace straight past Candlehearth Hall (You'd think you would want a drink after running across half of Skyrim, I know I did) and entered into the Palace of the Kings.
I followed right behind, and then lo and behold he stood next to the door with a mace on his hip. Still to proud to put the armor on... But there he was alive and back home. I assume he's still there. I waited for him two days and two nights and he scarcely moved. I must say that man is nothing if not diligent.
And there ends my tale. I was offered naught an ounce of gold, not a word of thanks, yet I know one man lives today, that without me, would either be being tortured in some Thalmor prison, or in the stomach of some wolf, sabre cat, hungry necromancer, or hibernating bear or who knows what.
So the next time you come across a prisoner, take him home! It's not okay to just free him, it's essentially a death sentence, this world is a dangerous place, and frankly he's an idiot.