Welcome to The Elder Strolls!
The Elder Strolls is a series I wrote for PC Gamer, following in the spirit of Living in Oblivion: I played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as a lowly NPC named Nordrick (a distant descendant of Nondrick from LiO). My goals were simple: avoid adventure, find some way to make a living, find my own home, and get married, if possible. This ten-part series can be read by visiting the links below.
- Part One: Nordrick arrives in the coastal town of Dawnstar, ready to seek his fortune. He meets some of the locals and investigates a career in mining.
- Part Two: Nordick takes a break from mining to do some hunting. You might say the hunter quickly becomes the hunted, but that’s such a cliche. Don’t say that.
- Part Three: Unhappy with his prospects in the tiny town of Dawnstar, Nordrick sets out to find a larger city, hoping the game won’t notice.
- Part Four: The NPCs in Windhelm make Nordrick jealous of their jobs and homes. While out hunting, he stumbles across a shack and its two inhabitants, one of whom is eating the other.
- Part Five: After a week of living in his new shack, Nordrick gets irritated by his dead roommate and heads for Riften to begin his search for a spouse with a nice home.
- Part Six: Nordrick finds Riften to be a depressing dump full of jerks who would rather fight over his discarded hat than marry him. After a bleak week, however, he finds a companion, albeit a furry one.
- Part Seven: Back in Windhelm with Jasper, Nordrick finally meets someone who wants to get married. Unfortunately, it’s a homeless beggar who has even less to offer than Nordrick does.
- Part Eight: Nordrick, after deciding not to marry a stinky homeless man, travels to Whiterun, where he meets a woman keen to get hitched… but only if he’ll slay a mammoth.
- Part Nine: Having successfully wooed a woman with a piece of dead elephant, Nordrick takes a long walk back to Riften to attend his wedding.
- Part Ten: Now semi-happily married to a wife he can’t find, Nordrick rushes back to Whiterun with Jasper in tow, eager to begin his new life. The final entry.
If you’re looking to incorporate some Nondrick into your Skyrim, there are a couple mods some fans made here, and here.