Before I go on any further, I need to discuss the timescales; with the default time scale value of 20, it takes about 3 minutes for one hour to pass in-game; with the survival mod I'm using for this playthrough, its slowed down considerably. This is necessary to keep gameplay moving at an even pace, after all; it wouldn't be fun to have to take the time to stop and eat 3 times in 20 minutes of gameplay. This has the side effect of making the world seem smaller, so to offset it, I won't be using fast travel.
After his narrow escape from Helgen, Jar-Neelius traveled with his newfound companion, Ralof, to the nearby town of Riverwood; after meeting with Gerdur and receiving the "Before the Storm" quest, he needed to reequip himself for the journey ahead. He made a bit of extra coin assisting for the local blacksmith, and then sold his remaining loot at the Riverwood Trader; before he could get much futher, he ended up agreeing to help the owner recover his lost Golden Claw.
Cautiously, he crept up the mountain, taking care to avoid the bandits crawling around Bleak Falls Barrow. Once inside, he found more bandits, and these ones were far more alert; against all odds, he survived the guards at the entrance. After resting for a few minutes, he ventured deeper intro the ruins, only to run into the apparent ringleader. He shrugged off the poisoned arrow in his back like it was nothing; Jar-Neelius knew he was in trouble. As he rushed out of the ruins, the sentries he had slipped by on the way in joined the fray; he almost certainly would have died, were it not for his superior agility.
He carefully - but quickly - scaled down the north side of the mountain; the Golden Claw would have to wait. From the foot of the mountain, he could see Whiterun, and remembered his other quest. After bribing the guards to let him into the city, he explained the situation to Jarl Balgruuf; carelessly, he blurted out that he was on the chopping block at Helgen this morning, when the dragon attacked. Instead of arresting him as a fugitive, however, the Jarl instead agreed to send a detachment of soldiers to Riverwood, but not before a visit with the court wizard. Much to his chagrin, the wizard wanted him to venture back to the dreaded barrow, where he had already nearly died once today.
For safety, he traveled back to Riverwood with the soldiers. In spite of his best efforts, he could not convince them to spare any assistance with the nearby bandits. Tired from his long day, he checked into the inn at 8:00pm, and fell into a heavy sleep. In this first day of gameplay, he leveled up twice, taking perks in Stealth and One-Handed.
Jar-Neelius having a drink before bed:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/12/2012022800001.jpg/
