STALKING ULFRIC STORMCLOAK
Part 1
The battle is over, the war has been won, and the victors have gathered after the struggle to bask in their hard won - if only momentary - glory and speak of the trials and challenges that still lie ahead...
"So... you comin' back to Windhelm? We could totally party."
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
Never one to take the easy road when there's a shorter, more difficult path available, Ulfric leaves Solitude and heads south and east past the stables and East Empire Warehouse.
He leaves the road and makes cross country for the spit of land that juts out into the water just south of where the Dainty Sload is moored. And down by the waterline three foolishly aggressive horkers meet their doom.
He Fus-Ro-Dahed them first (not to be used lightly, my @$$
) and then broke out the double axes. Erik and I helped finish off the first two; the third ended up getted shouted out into the water and was on its way back to the shore when Ulfric shouted it away again and I killed it with an arrow. You can see him at the near edge of that little bit of land offshore in the next shot.
And then we just stood there, admiring the scenery, for... like...
forever.
He would walk around on that spit of land, go down and stand by the water's edge, go back up towards the road like he was heading back towards the Solitude docks, once he even went for short swim...
...but he came right back to the same place again. After I scouted ahead as far as High Gate Ruins on the far shore, he finally waded over to the larger islet in between the coasts of Haafingar and the northernwestern edge of The Pale.
He walked around the islet to the eastern side and stood there, looking at the opposite coast, for hours of game time. I scouted ahead again, going much further inland than before, only to return and find that he had moved on. I caught up with him in the waters between the islet and the mainland. Finding myself under attack by slaughterfish I was making for land as fast as I could when I heard the unmistakeable sound of Ulfric shouting. I turned around in the water to see two dead slaughterfish floating by. Two thoughts: the man takes care of his own, lol, and... Ulfric can engage in combat while swimming?
Well, no, not exactly, because when I finally got a bead on him I could see that HE was not swimming. He was wading, i.e., walking fully upright. In water so deep that I and my follower had no choice but to swim for it. Make of that what you will.