Unbound

It serves as the opening quest for the game.

Background
"I've been captured by the empire and been sentenced to death alongside Stormcloak rebels. We were being taken to Helgen, but before I could be executed Alduin appeared and attacked the town. I need to find a way out of the town." - Dovahkiin (Dragonborn)

Dragons
Just before the Imperial Headsman has the opportunity to kill you, Alduin arrives and disrupts the execution. With the execution stopped and the guard in chaos, you take the opportunity to escape custody. Running towards a nearby tower, you meet up with Ralof and Ulfric Stormcloak, who also manages to escape. Quickly you learn that your hiding place is not safe, as Alduin blasts a hole in the tower killing another Stormcloak in the process. Ralof will instruct you to jump out of the tower from the hole into a nearby inn, with the promise that he will meet up with you when he can. After jumping down and exiting the inn, you find that Helgen has become heavily damaged in quite a short time, with many buildings damaged and burning. As you run into the street, an Imperial soldier, Hadvar, will tell you to follow him to safety. The soldier will lead you to the Helgen Keep. At the entrance of The Keep, Ralof catches up with you.

You then have to choose to either have Hadvar or Ralof accompany you the rest of the way. Your choice will create some minor changes in the story during the Civil War questline. (This does not affect which side you are able to take in the war later in the game.)

Following Ralof :
Upon entering the keep, you and Ralof discover the body of a dead Stormcloak, Gunjar. After freeing you from your bindings, Ralof instructs you to take Gunjar's gear for your own use as he won't be needing it. While you equip yourself, Ralof examines the doors. He discovers one door is locked, and the other can't be opened from the side you're on. Luckily, two imperial soldiers and the imperial captian will come through and open the door secured from the other side. Once they open the door, you are forced to kill them to recover the key to the other gate from their bodies. Going through the now opened up path, you will discover a store room, with two more Imperial Soldiers gathering supplies.

After defeating the soldiers, Ralof advises you to go through the barrels to find potions. If you're new to Elder Scrolls, take the time to do a thorough search of the area and all containers. This is a good opportunity to familarize yourself with Skyrim's controls and menus.

Continuing down, you arrive at a battle between an Imperial torturer, his assistant, and two Stormcloaks. After defeating the soldiers, Ralof points to a cage with a dead mage and a small amount of gold and miscellaneous items inside. Ralof gives you several lockpicks, and suggests you pick the lock to get to the items. You can pick the rest of the locked cells for experience.

You eventually enter a natural cave, filled with soldiers guarding it for General Tullius. After killing them, you find a draw bridge that connects to a part of the cave not controlled by the Imperial Army. Shortly after you enter it, the passage behind you collapses, forcing you to find a way out through there. After a bit of exploring, you discover a Frostbite Spider nest. Once you defeat the spiders, you head through the passage out of the nest that you didn't come in through.

Next, you encounter a resting bear. Ralof will advise you to sneak past it, but he will give you a bow and some arrows if you aren't a fan of stealth. Even if you are, you can sneak up on the bear, kill it with one or two arrows, and collect the bear pelt for selling or smithing.

Once you've dealt with the bear, you will see an exit to the cave. Once free, you will see the Dragon fly away. Ralof will direct the player to his sister, Gerdur, who lives in Riverwood. At this point you can choose to follow Ralof to Riverwood, or split up and find your own way.

Following Hadvar:
The story is the same as above, but instead of siding with the Stormcloaks, you side with the Imperials, and fight the Stormcloaks. If the player allows Hadvar to escort them through the Keep, he will escort the player to their freedom. Once free, Hadvar will direct the player to his uncle, Alvor, who lives in Riverwood.

During this sequence the player's companion (Hadvar or Ralof) will not fight back if attacked and regain health immediately after taking damage, effectively they can be used like a sort of training dummy to enhance combat and sneak skills early in the game.

Loot
Some notable loot found include:


 * 3 Potion of Minor Magicka
 * 9 Potion of Minor Healing
 * Potion of Minor Stamina
 * Spell Tome: Sparks
 * Novice Hood and Novice Robes
 * Bear Pelt

Object Values: 685 Searching Values Estimate: 3059 Total Area Value: 3744

Following Ralof does grant slightly better heavy armor as one of the guards you must kill is an Imperial Captain, which means you can pick up the Imperial Armor, which gives very helpful protection in the early part of the game. After continuing to Riverwood, Gerdur will give you her housekey.

If you side with Hadvar you are free to take the pile of iron and steel ingots which spawn next to the workbench outside the house, giving your character a better weapon from the start if you have steel smithing. You can also take some armor and weapons next to the grindstone.

Bugs

 * After following Ralof into the first room of Helgen Keep and after killing the attacking imperial soldiers, before you unlock the locked door, you may train your skills on Ralof without him fighting back. His health regenerations allow the player to train for how ever long they want. (Ralof cannot be pickpocketed from and nothing can be looted from his body when he falls to the ground)