After this adventure, I had realized that I was playing something truly remarkable. I have never been so utterly engrossed and immersed in a game in my entire life.

Some background info:
I'm a vampire- when the sun is out and I am caught outdoors, I am unable to regenerate Magicka, Stamina, or Health.
I don't use fast travel
I don't abuse saves- what happens, happens.
There is a slight spoiler for the thieves guild quest.

So, it was just an average night. I was walking to Whiterun because Whiterun is the crossroads of sorts for the game and I do most of my selling between adventures there. My true destination was Ivarstead to give some lady 10 bear pelts and to complete a minor Dark Brotherhood contract. I saw a small group of Imperial soldiers escorting a Stormcloak, presumably to Dragonsreach which was visible in the distance. Being the horrible, horrible person I am, I methodically murder the three Imperials and the Stormcloak prisoner. I figured I could take their weapons for enchantment or something like that.

After I hid the bodies, I continued on as if nothing happened, as a person is wont to do after a quadruple murder. As I approach the front gate of Whiterun, the guards all run at me. I'm not sure what has happened, but it quickly became apparent that they somehow knew that I murdered the three soldiers. I had a bounty of 1750 on my head, far to steep to simply bribe away. I didn't want to risk losing all of my items by paying the fine, so I let them take me to the prison with the thought that I would somehow get my items back. Eventually.

I wake up in my cell. My first thought was to pickpocket they keys from the guard, but the guard was unfortunately savvy enough to not walk that close to the bars. There was, fortunately, a grate in the ground with the Shadowmark for escape marking it. I unlock it with my one and only lockpick, probably by the will of Nocturnal, and make my escape. I make my way through the dungeon sewers, taking the torches with me as I go to make my path dark, in case something were to see me. I see, past a grate, the chest with all my belongings with it. It had an expert lock and I didn't want to risk my pick breaking, in case I needed it. I scouted ahead a bit more and found a way into the guard barracks. I knew that there would be no locked doors past this point so I went back for my stuff.

The pick breaks.

I figure that I would come back for it later. I climb up through the guard barracks and I feed on a sleeping guard to sate my vampiric cravings. There were two guards in the room with the exit sitting at a table but their backs were turned. I sneak past them, exiting the barracks.

Fortunately, it was night time. Well, it was very early morning, at least. Sneaking through the town was childs play but the guards at the gate would be tricky. I popped [the Shadowcloak of Nocturnal](/spoiler) to get past the first guard inside Whiterun, but this canceled my invisibility. The two guards outside had seen me, though, but I managed to escape quickly enough. I ran down to the stables where my horse was, and fled towards Riften, my base of operations, where I am not wanted.

So I started my journey, completely naked, with no funds to my name. Knowing this, I set out towards Valtheim Towers, a bandit-infested abandoned ruin spanning White River. I figured I could sneak in and take something, anything, to make my journey easier. I manage to sneak in but quickly realized I had painted myself into a corner, unable to escape. I checked my inventory to see if I had anything I may have forgotten that I may have stolen on the way out of Whiterun, and by the grace of Nocturnal herself I had exactly one weapon- Alessandra's Dagger. This was an unremarkable steel dagger given to me by the caretaker of the hall of the dead in Riften as part of an small quest. It was all I needed.

I slit the throat of the bandit guarding the door, and took her armor. I advanced into the tower more and slit the throat of the lookout archer and took his hunting bow and his iron arrow. Things were beginning to look up, until my luck changed-

The sun came up.

I managed to land a few arrows on the bandits patrolling the lengthy bridge but my weapon did barely any damage. My plan was to lure them in close and then strike with my terrible dagger. Even with the 15x sneak attack damage bonus, the stronger bandits took several hits before they went down. Eventually, the bandit chief joined the fight, with his full set of steel armor, Dwarven shield, and Orcish dagger.

Thus began one of the longest cat and mouse chases I ever had in the game. I hid in the shadows, always just out of reach, running circles around my aggressors. I take all the bandits out except the for the bandit chief. I whittle him down to half of his health but unfortunately he eventually spotted me, and I was unable to retreat into the shadows. With half of my stamina missing with no potions in my inventory, we stare each other down, each on opposite sides of the table. I prod him with my arrows, but I run out. My only option was to face him with my dagger. In my first few attacks I drain a quarter of my Stamina before I realize being so aggressive was a bad idea. He lands a few blows on me and I am at half of my health. I break out my Vampiric Drain spell and keep my distance. His health slowly goes down, enough to give me the chance I need to finish him off. I get a final power strike on him to stagger him, and take enough of his health that he yields to me. Not being one to show any form of mercy, I execute him as he flees from me with an arrow to the back. I loot his body, and take his Orcish Dagger. I venture further into the now empty bandit hold and find an enchanted Elven bow.

I figure that I now have enough to safely venture back to Riften. Unfortunately, my horse had fled in the skirmish and was nowhere to be found. I slept the morning away in the bandit stronghold and set out to Riften in the night.
I run into the night towards Riften. I was on high alert for a large part of the trip, until I met a group of Stormcloak soldiers. Thats how I knew I was out of Whiterun. I'm not sided with the Stormcloaks, mind you, it's just that they don't want my head. And that's a welcome change. It was a fairly uneventful trip, I had to sneak past a few sleeping bears but it was nothing I couldn't handle. But then, when I was on the final leg of the journey to Riften, I got mugged by a thief. I just let him take my shit and tried to kill him as his back was turned, but he was a tough customer. I holster my weapon and he stops attacking me, and runs to the nearby farm to sit down and enjoy a nice loaf of bread. I tried to speak with him, and although I couldn't initiate conversation he seemed like a pretty nice guy.

I sniped him from a distance and took his glass armor, as well as my coin back.

I finally arrived in Riften, and I picked up my retired Thieves' Guild armor. I also take my retired [Nightingale Bow and Chillrend](/spoiler) and headed for the Ragged Flagon. I stocked up on all of the lockpicks I could buy (I had amassed roughly 600 coins from the bandits from before and from the thief) and began to plan. After a small bit preparing in Riften, and picking up a few Thieves' Guild missions for the journey, I set my plan into motion.

First, I slept for three nights. In my plan, if I was detected at all, I would fail. So I figured going stage four vampire wouldn't hurt and would give me the abilities I needed in case an emergency happened. I ran all the way back to Valtheim Towers under cover of night, and slept in that bed until sunset to complete the transformation.

My plan was as follows: Sneak into Whiterun, break back into Dragonsreach, complete a mission for the Thieves Guild while I was in the neighborhood (Steal the Jeweled Flagon from the house of the clan Battle-Born,) and sneak back out, all completely undetected. From there, I could go back and forth, doing missions for the Thieves' Guild until I was able to complete the special mission so I can permanently bribe the guards. Exactly how I was going to accomplish this, I had no idea.

I arrived at the Whiterun walls and had to sneak around them, avoiding the farms and guards posted out front. I was able to avoid the main drawbridge and the archer guarding it in this fashion. But what would be the toughest task was next: avoiding the two guards posted directly in front of the doors into Whiterun. After much internal debate as to my course of action, I finally decided to fire an arrow at one of them, just barely missing one of them. As I had predicted, they went to investigate the direction of the arrow. I rolled to the side opposite them as they looked, and the moment both of their backs had turned away, I lunged for the door. The guard directly inside had noticed a sound but I managed to lunge for the nearest shadow until he gave up his search.

Now that I was inside the city the hardest part was over, or so I had thought. A sobering thought dawned on me, but not until much later. Some of you may have already noticed it. But, for now, I was in the clear. I had a clear path to the guard barracks from before and broke back into the dungeon with ease. I navigated back to the prisoner's belongings chest and opened it easily. (With one pick, no less.) I was over-encumbered by about 70 points but I managed to throw away the worst of the junk.

I escaped the same way I came without much effort, and raiding the Battle-Born house was child's play. After I had completed my mission and headed for the gate, I realized the largest flaw in my plan:
How was I going to get back outside with the two guards posted there and remain undetected?
My smug mood was instantly crushed. Once again, I sat and waited. After more internal debate, I realized that I had no choice but to be captured and to run for it. I put Embrace of Shadows at the ready and stepped through the main gate.

But the guards didn't notice me. The extra stealth bonuses afforded by my proper equipment meant that they didn't hear me, and I was in their blind spot. I didn't even have to pop invisibility, I was able to just roll away right under their noses. They almost saw me but ultimately they gave up their search, and I was victorious. I broke into a nearby farm to feed to remove my bloodlust and I made my way to Valtheim Towers, which has sort of turned into my base of operations for the area. And along the way, I noticed my still living horse floating along in the river! Now that I know how to break in and out of Whiterun, I should be able to complete the Thieves' Guild quests with relative ease and work towards clearing my name.


TL;DR: I get caught killing a soldier, hilarity ensues.