P01B:
The Town of Riverwood

The Town of Riverwood

Quest Givers
-- Lucan: Main Story Quest -- The Golden Claw
-- Lucan: Miscellaneous Quest -- Visit the College of Winterhold
-- Orgnar: Miscellaneous Quest -- Craft a Potion
-- Orgnar: Miscellaneous Quest -- Kill the Bandit Leader at the Halted Stream Camp
-- Orgnar: Miscellaneous Quest -- Talk to Aventus Arentino
-- Sven: Miscellaneous Quest -- Deliver Sven's Letter to Camilla

Note: The list of Quest Givers for each town only includes the important or interesting quests -- there are many more basic quests to be had that I leave for you to find on your own -- I only include the quests that either lead to another more important quest, or that take you somewhere it is good to go.

There are inevitable paths in any game that must be followed until, when it is time, the path branches, and that is when free will kicks in.  For us, the path right now leads to the town of Riverwood, and our path begins with a run down the mountain... Err... Path.  Whatever.

During the trip down the road to Riverwood Hadvar will talk to you and, eventually will flag the Miscellaneous Quest Join the Imperial Legion for you.  We need to talk about quests now...

-== Flagging Quests ==--

When you arrive in the town you can speak with the different townsfolk to obtain information -- but the conversations that you have with them can also flag quests -- in fact any NPC has the capability of giving you a quest if they have one to give and you talk to them -- so before we do any of that we need to talk about these quests. 

The main story line has a set of quests, and these are covered as part of the main walk-through because you have to do them to progress the game.  Each of the factions have their own set of quests, and in each town there are quests you can flag from NPC's that list under Miscellaneous in the Quest Lists.  The important thing for you to know is that each and every type has its own section with a primary number in this guide.  All of the quests that are part of that class of quest are included under the same section number, with different alpha-designations. 

We do this so that IF you decide to do a quest, you can jump right to its section and have the information you need for help in completing it if you do need help.  The reason that these are not included in the main guide other than references to the quest givers is simply because not all players will flag all of the quests that they can, and even when they do, may not want to complete them if they are focused upon the main story.  For that reason this is all fully compartmentalized.  This is for your benefit.

--== To Riverwood ==--

Where the path meets the river you will have the opportunity to pick up your first crafting agents -- Thistle Branch -- and you will discover your first location -- The Guardian Stones -- discovering locations adds a small amount of XP and also can serve as a fast travel spot on the map, so it is a good idea to discover as many as you can!

-- The Guardian Stones -- 

There are three stones here, and each one can apply its sign to you but you can only choose one.  The first stone is called The Warrior Stone, and it will give you the ability to learn Combat Skills 20% faster.  The second stone is The Mage Stone, which will let you learn all magical skills 20% faster, and the third and last stone is the Thief Stone, which will give you all stealth skills 20% faster. 

I chose the Mage Stone for myself, because I suspect that Magic Skills will be important down the road -- and the choosing of one of the stones also happens to unlock the Achievement "Blessed" (10 GS)!  So bonus!

After choosing your stone continue along the path and you will discover the Embershard Mine, which has another ingredient -- Purple Mountain Flower near it.  We will be discussing crafting and ingredients later in the guide, so you may just want to note that this is here and not take it for now as ingredients do weigh a little and can add up...  You can find Mountain Flower further along the path so remember that, and on fallen logs you can find Mora Tapinella mushrooms as well.

You want to speak with the Blacksmith, Alvor.  He has some items you can take -- go ahead and take anything you think you can use.  Finally you tell him about the dragon, and the attack.  He asks you to deliver a message to the Jarl beyond Whitereach.  You can do that, right?

Take the time now to chat with Alvor and learn what you can about the area, and what has been going on.  He has some useful background information, and you will be glad to know it.  Some of the things he tells you will add additional options for yet more information, so do not be shy about asking questions.  The last question that you should ask is if you can use his smithy -- he says yes of course!

Welcome to Riverwood

The smithy is to your left, and you will find iron and steel ingots there, and you should take them.  You do not have enough of any other materials that you need to make items, but you can improve the items you have -- for instance the Steel Shield that we picked up in the armory?  You can use the workbench to improve it using the steel ingots that we just picked up.  Do that and you gain a small amount of Smithing Skill -- that is very important! 

Obtaining Your First Smithy Skill-Up

You want to improve your Smithing Skill as much as you can, to get it to 60 as fast as you can, because that will allow you to make and improve your own weapons and armor as well as improve magical weapons and kit.  That may not feel like that big a deal right now, but having the ability will be like the American Express Double Platinum Card in this game, trust me on that!

Hadvar is in the Smith's house and you can talk to him there for more background including details about the war and who you were briefly prisoners with.

The Riverwood Trader is across the street -- head over there to sell off the extra stuff you picked up for some pocket money, and make sure to ask them if something happened as that will flag the quest The Golden Claw -- and as that will nicely fit in with another quest you will flag soon go ahead and flag it since the XP and reward will be good to have.

The Trader has crafting supplies but as we are rather low on funds at the moment now is not the time to trade money for skills.  Later we will do that though...  If you flagged any of the quests that can be completed in town you should complete them before you leave -- and you should talk to the Inn Keeper to flag the ones he can offer by choosing all of the conversation options with him since some of them are in the Whiterun area!

When you have finished with the Trader take the time to chat with the townfolk, Camilla will show you the bridge that will take you out of town to Whiterun, so if you have taken care of the above mentioned tasks now is a good time to hit the road!  If it is dark you may want to use the Wait button to wait until morning, since night on the trail is not a good time to be traveling!