Hours 5 - 7: The Road to Riften part 1

I set out early in the morning from Whiterun. I haven't mentioned before, but I'm specialising in heavy armour, block, and one-handed, and am currently sporting this awesome set of steel armour which I murdered a sellsword for, an Orcish shield, and an Elven mace:

I'm currently level 4. I pass Valtheim Towers just down the river from Whiterun, and clear out all the bandits. I feel bandits are probably a bit too aggressive and homicidal in this game.

A little later, I experience an awesome encounter. A Stormcloak soldier and a mage are travelling just ahead of me, by a bridge. Suddenly a rabid river troll jumps out of the bushes and attacks them, slaying both in a frenzy. I rush to engage it and try to bring it down, but it seems impervious to my blows, and when it strikes me I suffer a lot of damage even when blocking. Just as I think I'm about to die, the troll explodes in a violent burst of flames. It was incinerated by a passing wizard!

I press on further and reach Darkwater Crossing. After mining some ore for the farmer there, and agreeing to take a message to Windhelm, I speak to Anneke who asks me to clear out a nearby bandit cave. I agree (checking what direction to head in is one of the few times I'll use the map). The cave itself is huge and impressive, with branching bridges leading out from a large central cavern:

There are a couple of bandits in hete who give me trouble, and I die a few times. Fortunately, the scariest one is off in a room by himself, so after trying and failing to kill him several times, I just left him alone. He wielded some kind of life-draining weapon that always managed to kill me no matter what I did.

After killing the bandit chief (another tough fight, where I had to resort to a bow for the first time), I return to Darkwater Crossing and tell Anneke. She agrees to accompany me on the rest of my journey.

Together, we continue on the road to Riften, getting into a few scrapes with thieves, bandits, and a giant spider. She proves useful and picking off enemies at range with her bow. We eventually come across a group of what appear to be hunters camped near the road. I speak to them and one of them says that bandits have his family hostage in the fortress of Treva's watch. I agree to help him, and battle my way through the fort. Whilst inside, I find a room with his family in, all murdered.

After clearing out the bandits and opening the main gate for him, he asks me if I found his family in there. The only option I have is to say no! That sucks! I did see them. I decide that in order to save him the pain of finding his dead family, to kill him and his whole entourage. It's a friendly killing in a way. It turns out that he and his followers have some really great gear too, and tons of health potions. Yoink!

Anneke and I walk a short way further as night begins to fall. I find an empty tent near the river and bed down:

There's still a long way to go before we reach Riften, and the journey so far has filled up a good 3 hours of game-time.