Blood on the Ice

Racism, violence, murder: these are the things the world is defined by now.

I left Riverwood two days ago, and managed to get a ride with a carriage driver at a farm near Whiterun. He took me all the way to the gates of Windhelm, a grateful gesture for my part as it is cold up here, and several days extra walking in that snow would have been unpleasant.

I'm no sooner in the door of Windhelm then I hear some loud mouthed Nord shouting slanders at a Dunmer woman. It was pretty intense, so I stepped in. This guy, Rolff Stone-Fist, instead takes a swing at me, and so within my first few minutes in Windhelm, I'm in a fist fight on the street. Back in Cyrodiil when I was younger, I was bullied a lot by some of the other kids, and so my dad taught me how to fight, so that I could defend myself. Seemingly now I was using it to depend someone else. He backed off afterward and was considerably more friendly once he knew who was going to be holding the chains so to speak. As it turns out, his brother is second-in-command to the Jarl, and so he promised to get me a audience with Ulfrik soon. Until then he directed me to Candlehearth Hall, where the warmth and welcome was a very positive change to me surroundings, even if it wasn't to last.

After a good hot meal I hit the hay but found I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking of the last few days, but moreso that word from the wall was still fresh in my ears. I could still hear it but still had no idea what it was. It was really frustrating, so I decided to go for a midnight walk to try and clear my head. I left the hall and walked through the market place, and that's where I noticed the blood. There were smears of it on the pavement leading around the corner down some steps. I followed at pace and found a grisly sight. A woman, dead lying on top of a stone slab, deep cuts in her back. There were a lot of guards standing around and a priestess. I overheard one of them saying something about some 'Butcher' and how he has struck again. Seems I picked the wrong time to come to town.

After that I decided I didn't feel like walking anymore, and the urge to sleep became much stronger. I returned to the hall and dozed off for the night. It's morning now and I'm awaiting to hear from Rolff. Until then I guess I'll stay put and ask a few people about this Butcher character.