Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Back to School


Dear Diary,

After getting situated in Solitude, spending the night and dropping some things off, I left for Morthal.  The pommel of the Razor was much easier to find.  I spotted the owner as soon as I entered town working at the saw mill.  He sold it for rather cheap considering it was a family heirloom.

On my way back to return the two of three pieces to Silus Vesius, I came across an old ruin deep in a cavern.  Looking down into the buildings I saw several bandits going about their day.  The buildings were laid out in such a way there was a large alley right in front of me, down in the cavern, with the only exit on the far side.  I chose my first target, a man on the far side sitting at the table and he fell with one arrow silently.  The noise of him gagging and falling out of his chair caught the attention of three more right below me and they went to investigate.  One fell, and the others realized what was going on and booked it for the far end and exit.  I caught one halfway down but missed the other  as he turned on his heel to run through the door.  He signaled to one other on the way out, but his throat was impaled before he finished.  It was enough to get the attention of the guard on the far side of the courtyard in a tower, and we exchanged an arrow or two before she fell.

I listened for a moment to make sure they were all dead, and carefully dropped down into the alley.  I searched the bodies and chests, and on a table found a note from a collector asking the men to search for something in the ruins, but I didn't really have time for that, and I moved on.  I checked the final body, the woman in the tower, and heard a massive roar.  I've seen enough dragons to know the roar of one, but this one was different, much louder and seeming to  carry slightly different.  I left the tower and lept upon a rocky ledge next to it, drawing Aether and looking for the beast.  I spotted it to the south, and landed an arrow to get it's attention.  It wasn't that large so I did not understand it's massive voice.  It circled around and landed in front of me, and I continued to pepper the beast with arrows, it's maw bloodied and left wing crippled.  As I considered drawing my mace and closing with the dragon, there was a massive crash behind me and I was knocked to the ground.  I turned and looked, and it was a second dragon!  This one was much larger and I suddenly felt less secure in defeating the first.  I put a couple arrows into the new big dragon and it seemed to just bounce off it's hide.  I ran and slid behind some rocks to shield from what was now twice the firey breath.  I popped up and shot the weaker dragon some more.  Focusing on it was probably my only way out of this fight.

This went on for a few moments - myself dodging fire then firing an arrow into the weakened dragon.  It was almost dead but I was almost out of arrows, and there was a perfectly healthy dragon right next to it!  I retreated further and dove behind a large totem I thought was of the Forsworn.  I was afraid of also running into them but the camp was awful small to be Forsworn, and I saw no tents.  Turning my attention back to the dragons, the larger one was now right on the other side of the totem, and the second flying overhead.  The totem shielded me from the direct heat of the constant blast, and it seemed the larger dragon was keeping me pinned down while the other circled around. Things were looking pretty grim, when I heard a massive thump and a scream from the larger dragon.  The fire stopped so I turned and looked, and was very relieved to see a giant wailing on the big dragon!  The beast cowered a bit and screamed with each massive thump to the head.  I wasted no time and returned to the weaker dragon, firing my last few arrows into it's wings.  Falling to the ground I ran up, dodged a weary attempt at a bite, and put the foul thing out of it's misery.  I turned to look at the scuffle behind me just in time to see the giant land one heavy blow on the dragon's head, which finally killed it. I am still unsure of the language or attitudes of the giant's, but as it stood there looking at me I assumed it meant well, so I waved and said thank you, and he wandered off.

I checked my map and the stars and regained my bearings.  I was halfway to Dawnstar and thought I might make it before midnight, so I set out quickly.  I luckily saw no more dragons, but did run into a Vigilant of Stendarr.  It was nice to run into someone else from Cyrodiil.

I arrived at Dawnstar late in the night, and quickly stopped by Silus' house and dropped off the two parts to the dagger.  I spent the night in the inn and this time went around the north side of town to go to the College, and saw a very foreboding door adorned with a skull and skeletons.  I walked up and put my hand on it and heard a very eerie voice ask me a question I can no longer recall.  I didn't answer, and just ran off towards Winterhold.


When I arrived something strange was going on.  Everyone was gathered in the main courtyard and I ran past to see what was happening.  Inside there was a large field of magic in front of the door.  Ancano was doing something to the Eye of Magnus and refused to let anyone in.  No one knew what he was doing, but I knew being a Thalmor he was likely up to no good.  I helped the Archmage bust down the door and we ran inside and confronted Ancano, but as we drew near there was a massive explosion and I was knocked unconscious.  I awoke to a voice, the woman who introduced me to the college was alive, but the Archmage was not so lucky.  There was no time to mourn as it seemed Ancano was gaining power and made a new shield right in front of the Eye.  I knew it was time to go to Labrynthian to get the Staff of Magnus which would hopefully aid us in stopping Ancano.  I am gathering my things and leaving you in my quarters at the College for now, I will write you again when I return.

Until next time,

- ST

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

My Own Place of Solitude


Dear Diary,

After my bout with the Hagraven I went east towards my next objective - reforging the Gaulder amulet.  The mountains east of Markarth are quite steep and a bit confusing, but on the bright side I found several interesting places around my destination.

The entrance to the final tomb was not much different than the others - a large cave with a door on one end.  I walked up to a small bridge in front of the door to find a dead man holding another dragon claw key, which I quickly swiped along with a note left by the original builders for my own collection.  The tomb itself was surprisingly empty.  I crept along expecting some sort of Draugr ambush, but it was simply three long halls, each with a door requiring one of the three claw keys.  I couldn't help but think back to the places I had been around the world as I pulled out each one and used it to proceed.

At the end was another large room, but this time filled with caskets and an altar on one end. There were three small pedestals on the altar, which I assumed were for the three amulets, and upon placing them, reforged into one!  I turned to leave but I heard a strange noise and turned.  Above the altar three ghosts appeared - the three brothers had returned!

The first one used a spell to teleport down to my level.  It looked like they were going to fight one by one.  The first brother was time consuming, but not difficult.  He was very sturdy but his blows were easy to block and he had no magic. The second brother was much more difficult.  He pulled the same trick as before, but this time made three other copies of himself each with a ghostly copy of the enchanted bow (which I still had in my pack, and used against them!). The fight seemed to last for hours, and I was forced to often retreat and use restoration magics and potions  of healing.  After a while it became easy to tell which one was the real brother, and after many dozen arrows he finally fell.

The third brother was the most difficult of all.  He didn't look like much at first as he charged with a mace, but he soon revealed more powerful magic in the form of a frost atronach which seemed invulnerable to my bow and Mr. Frosty (hindsight - don't enchant both weapons with the same element..).  As I tried my best to stay away from the giant ice man, I managed to put some arrows into the brother, however he pulled out another trick up his sleeve - a shout.  Every time I landed an arrow he would knock my bow out of my hands!  The battle was long, and my final strategy was to shoot him once and freeze him solid right after.  This still did nothing for the frost beast, which proved annoying, but simply delayed the inevitable.  After what was probably an hour the final brother fell.  Atop the altar their ghosts dissipated, finally able to rest for eternity.

I left the cave admiring my new trinkets, and headed north.  I had more goodies than I could carry and decided to return to Solitude, instead of going east as usual.  The trek to Solitude was fairly uneventful.  In the two days it took to sell all my leftover items, I also did some errands for the Jarl.  They were so impressed with my work that they offered to sell me a house, which I gladly took them up on!  It was quite expensive but I love Solitude, and figure I can keep the Whiterun house for storage and a stop to rest at.

So I will finish writing from my new house, and tomorrow set out for Dawnstar to return this Hagraven's little gem thing to the Mythic Dawn museum.

Until next time.

- ST

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

A Southern Fried Bird


Dear Diary,

I woke up from my camp outside Dawnstar, heading west toward Solitude.  I wish I could say the short trip was peaceful and uneventful, but a mere dozen paces away from camp, cresting a large rock, I was set upon by a dragon!  I drew out Aether and fired two quick arrows into it, drawing it's attention.  It soared back around by Dawnstar then came to land by me.  However it's attention was on something else! It landed a stones throw away below a drop off in the land, so I ran up quietly and had a look.  It had skipped right on past me and was pestering a poor (in context) Troll!  The Troll was trying it's hardest to put up a fight, but all it could do was swat at the dragons face, then run away a bit to seek cover.  As their dance took them a bit further away I dropped down and checked out the Trolls nook in the rocks, and on a dead body found an interesting book I had not seen before.  Score!  Trolls can't read anyway, so he won't miss that.  Returning my attention to the duel just in time to see the Troll get swallowed whole, I began peppering the dragon again.  The frost enchantment was effective, which might explain the dragon being so irritated being in the frozen north and all.  The dragon turned and looked at me, but I saw arrows coming from another direction and hitting it in the rear.  It bucked, took to the sky and circled upon it's new second adversary.  I again creeped forward to see who my rescuer might be.  It was a ruffian who must have not seen me yet.  Maybe he thought the Troll and the dragon were the only ones in the fight.  Regardless, he did a decent job hitting his mark with his bow and pissing the dragon off.  The beast flew in and breathed fire on the man, then flew off.  With the dragon leaving, the man looked around and spotted me and drew his bow again, but I nonchalantly flung an arrow his way, dropped him and turned back to the dragon.  I expected the dragon to be right behind me, but of course he had found something else more tasty to interest him (I can at least take it as a compliment on my figure!). I ran over to the edge of a small cliff to see, and it was a poor family of about a half dozen Horkers! The chubby critters were no match for the giant dragon, and it promptly began tossing them into the sea.  This was right out, I wasn't about to let this grumpy monster destroy an innocent family like this, so I drew my mace and shield and charged in!  With a few whacks I had distracted it's attention and it turned to me.  Between some ice magic, my ice enchanted mace, and a handful of one ton Horkers flopping into it, we finally took the dragon down.  The Horkers seemed grateful as they flopped back over to their island and looked at me, so I waved goodbye and moved on.

I made my way to Solitude, picking plenty of flowers for alchemy along the way, and spent a couple days there selling off a lot of spare gear and things I had found along the way.  I am starting to gather up a good bit of gold.  Maybe I will move out of Whiterun soon.

Leaving Solitude the morning of the second day, I headed off to a small pond where Urag thought another rare book might be.  It was a short trip, and I found the book on the body of a made collecting ingredients, but I did not see who might have killed her.  Maybe she tasted the wrong mushroom.

I continued straight through to the south, my next goal a couple spots on the Cyrodiil/Skyrim border.  However I did not get far until I had another encounter.  Climbing up the side of a large rocky hill off the side of the road gathering ingredients, I heard a roar and saw another dragon fly overhead and to the other side of the hill.  I stepped back a bit and drew my bow.  I knew we were fairly alone out here and I wouldn't be quite so lucky as before.  He looped back around and as he crested the hill, I realized this was the biggest one I had seen yet!  It was massive, and breathed some scorching hot fire.  We traded blows for a bit, fighting both face to face and firing at each other.  After a time I realized even with magic I was outmatched.  As it began to look bad for me, the dragon whipped it's head around and spotted something to our left and down on the road beneath a rocky drop off.  It took off after it and began to chase, breathing fire down on it.  Curious what could wander by and be so fast, I slid down the hill as fast as I could, and dropped down onto the road, but they had rounded the hill and all I could see was the dragon above the crest of the rocks.  It whipped around, so it's quarry must have as well, so I ran forward to meet it.  It rounded the rocks and stopped, whinnying - a horse!  It had come back for me, knowing we were both in hot water.  I hopped on and we took off to the southwest as fast as he would carry me.  I could see a wooden fort in the distance so I decided to head there.  I had no idea who was in it, so we could be finding more trouble, but I figured at the very least the dragon could be distracted by whoever was in there.  

We rode up at full speed to the front of the gates with the dragon literally hot on our heels.  As we were about to smash into the doors, I motioned the horse to pull a sharp turn and we rode along the front of the fort.  When we had cleared the other side and I noticed the dragon was no longer on our tails, I turned and sure enough the monster was hovering over the front of the fort and breathing fire upon the people inside, but there were massive volleys of arrows coming from the inside of the fort, which hurt it greatly and made it land injured in front of the walls.  A massive Orc ran out of the gates and began wailing on the dragon, which at this point was merely trying to shield itself from his blows.  I dismounted and ran back, assisting the man.  I jumped upon the dragons head and landed the killing blow (in hindsight a bit of a glory hog considering my previous strategy).  With the monster dead, a few more Orcs ran out of the gates to take a look.  They weren't too keen on talking to me, wary of outsiders and mourning the loss of their chief.  I hadn't noticed in the brawl that the hero who ran out of the fort had died!  I decided it was a good time to leave, as that was my fault and considering the situation the Orcs were being pretty nice.  I turned and walked away, looking for my new friend, but the horse was gone!  It was a touching moment to think about what had happened to say the least, but after a moment I gathered my wits and headed south again.

Checking my map, I was about halfway to Markarth at dusk, so I stopped at an old camp and spent the night.  The rest of the trip south took a full day.  I took the long way around Markarth, not ready to go in there again, and reached the summit of the mountain south of Markarth early evening.  The ruins at Hag Rock showed obvious signs of a Forsworn camp, so I figured I was in friendly territory.  I wandered up the hill and into a camp of about half a dozen and yelled hello and waved.  To my surprise they all jumped up and started running at me.  I took cover from a volley of arrows and magic, drew out my bow and looked for an opportunity at the edge of my cover.  I saw a younger archer to the side and lacking cover, so I knocked an arrow and when his had past turned and dropped him.  As I went to pull another I was jumped by a crazy woman wielding magic.  I bashed her in the face with my bow and kicked her into the ground.  I swapped out the bow for Frosty and gave her a two handed bash to the face, knocking her out.  I finished her with another swing and got back into cover, as we were fighting with arrows flying around us still.  I looked again and saw two people in front of an alchemy lab in a large open tent, and shot some arrows their way while avoiding theirs.  One hit home, knocking the woman up onto the table, and the other dropped her bow and drew a dagger and charged.  It was a mistake as her lack of armor and small weapon versus an enchanted mace and armor was no match.  After a short duel she lay dead on the ground.  I sheathed my weapon and searched the camp, and then head into the ruins.

The inside of Hag Rock was an old fort, containing barracks and a small prison.  There were a few Forsworn inside but I stealthily took them out one by one.  I found a tower in the back that went up to some more stairs outside.  Cresting those I saw the door to more ruins and a large tent.  I didn't hear anything, so if there was anyone inside i thought they would be asleep, so I snuck past.  As I reached the door I heard a roar and turned to see a Forsworn and his pet Troll!  We traded a few blows and I was forced to back off down the stairs.  I ran a ways trying to separate them, and it worked.  The chief lunged at me well ahead of his pet, and I tripped him and pushed him off the wall.  I wanted to watch but now I had a Troll on my hands.  I turned and shouted at the beast, freezing it solid.  I caught my breath for a moment then recalled some words of fire magic and roasted the Troll best I could.  Slightly toasted, the Troll rose and angrily swatted at me.  I danced around his attacks and each time he made a wild swing ran in and smacked it in the face.  Dazed and angry, it made one final wild lunge and I turned to the side letting it pass, then cracked its back with a powerful blow with my mace.  I thought I was done, but as the Troll fell I heard a scream behind me.  The master was back and more pissed off than ever that I had killed his pet.  His rage was hard to contain, his wild blow dropping my shield.  He attacked so fast I couldn't do much more than try and block them all.  At a lull in the fight, I decided I should apologize by raising the Troll back from the dead, and cast a spell upon it's corpse.  Rising, it attacked it's master.  The chief unsure what to do, faced with the creature it loved, it halfheartedly fought the beast and was quickly ripped apart.  The spell soon worn off and it fell head over feet backwards down the stairs.  I laughed, and turned and entered the next tower.

What I thought would be another ruin was actually another tower open to the sky.  I climbed the wooden stairs and found myself a ways across from an altar and a Hagraven with lots of strange magical fetishes on poles and ropes all around.  I snuck up to watch her doing something strange to a dead goat.  It wasnt long before I didn't want to see anymore and shot an arrow into her shoulder.  It was quite angry and began to hobble over with some sort of foul magic ready.  She must have forgotten the double fire traps she had set up to keep out intruders - when she cackled and began to cast a nasty spell at me she was set ablaze, caught in her own crossfire.  She screamed and caught on fire, and angrily began to move forward again, but I quickly knocked an arrow, shot her at point black and knocked her back into the fire.  I happily continued to do this until she was a pile of charred feathers on the ground.  I snuck around and plucked the soul gems from the traps, and safely took the part I needed for Silus off the altar.

Feeling particularly tired, it being late into the night, I slept in the tent of the Troll and master, but not before pulling out the body of some poor Wood Elf.  Tomorrow I'll head west and finally reforge these Gaulder amulets.

Until net time.

- ST

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Seek and Ye Shall Find (Books)


Dear Diary,

I left the cave with the amulet fragments and camped outside.  I was approached by a man as I awoke and began to walk on, and he demanded my belongings.  He must have been following me and was after what I had found in the cave.  Or maybe he was just a wandering thief.  Regardless, he persisted, and I was forced to dispatch him quickly.

I traveled north toward Windhelm.  I figured I could reach it by dusk.  On the way I had an encounter with yet another dragon, but it was small and easy to deal with. There were several Giant camps as well but I knew if I left them alone the favor would be returned.  The terrain was a nice change of pace, volcanic hot springs were something of a wonder in a land with so much snow.

I reached Wildhelm shortly before dark and a blizzard had blown in, so I took shelter and began looking around town for a place to stay.  I heard a commotion from deeper in town and went to investigate.  A woman had been murdered and it seemed the guards were spread to thin to do much about it at the time, so I volunteered to investigate.  It proved to just one in a series of murders, but after a couple days and little sleep the murderer was caught.  I had my suspicions all along and they turned out true.  The man the evidence pointed to directly was not the culprit, but rest easy the real murderer is now behind bars.  Otherwise my stay in Windhelm was unremarkable.  I did visit a local museum in my search for the killer.  Inside on a tour I was shown a book, one of a kind and magical, that was supposed to read the destiny of the person who opens it.  I could hardly contain my excitement and I don't remember the curator saying anything else.  I made sure to come back later and pick it up for my personal collection.

After Windhelm I again went north to turn in my books to Urag.  On the road I was accosted by a wood elf. I don't know why he attacked me, he said not a word, but he was dealt with easily enough.  Down the road I again ran into two more ruffians, but this time two Redguard, and they made their intentions clear.  They were after my "shiny gold."  It was a much tougher fight than the wood elf, a back and forth for a good bit of time.  We had fought our way down the road a ways, and must have caught the attention of the 3 drunken revelers I had passed weeks before.  They charged in with nothing but their fists and together knocked out one of the bandits.  The other man however was not going to be taken out by bare fists and cut down two of the drunken men.  I had my bow out and tried the whole time to assist the three but could not get a clean shot, but down to one on one the last drunkard landed a powerful blow and staggered the brute, at which point I took advantage and landed the arrow square in his neck.  I stopped to mourn the two old friends who had given me some mead when we first met, and the third went back to drinking.  It must have been his way of coping.

Making my way into the college I went straight to Urag and gave him the four books he sought.  The book of Sheldor would take a few days to translate, but the other three he traded for some other books.  More common, but appreciated.  I bought up his stock of extras he kept on hand and I left.  He didnt say a word about the stolen books, maybe he felt I had made good on that end, but as I walked away and went out of sight I went to pick into the massive bookcases I realize he had locked them!  Damned old man.  I should've taken more the first time.  I just wanted to read them!  I promise.

As I went back down the the main entrance I was stopped by Ancano, the Thalmor diplomat staying in the college (and lucky I would be investigated as the newest member if something..unfortunate were to happen to him).  He demanded my presence with the Arch Mage, as a member of the Psijic Order was here to see me.  The Psijic are a very secretive and ancient group, and not too welcome it seems in the college.  I try my hardest to be polite to the elf and followed him up the stairs to where the guest was waiting.  We had a brief conversation about the relic uncovered in Saarthal, which he felt was too powerful for the College to be dabbling with.  He understood he couldn't stop them from using it however, and told me where to find someone who would know what to do - beneath the College. I did as he asked and went into what must have been the sewer system of the old city before it collapsed, what was left of it at least directly underneath the College.  

But the rest of that story can wait.  The suspected location of the artifact I had to find was way down south below the Throat, and I had other, more pressing issues at the moment.  Another museum in Dawnstar and books for Urag in ruins west of that.  Which reminds me, I forgot to mention while in Windhelm I was stopped by a courier and given an invitation to a museum opening in Dawnstar.  I did not expect all of this stuff in the College to take place.  I just wanted to drop off the books and move on.  But I digress.  I spent the night in my quarters and planned the next day's trip.

I went west back to Dawnstar, sticking to the coast again as I knew it would be fairly safe.  When I arrived I knew without having to look at the address on the invitation which house was the museum - it was covered in banners of the Mythic Dawn.  My grandmother had told me stories of their exploits, and they were not a group to be taken lightly.  As I approached the house a man in Mythic Dawn robes introduced himself as the curator and owner of the house.  I decided against better  judgement to follow and see what he had to say.  He didn't seem so bad really, he admitted what his family did was wrong, and that he did not follow Dagon himself, it was more out of respect to his Elders and family tradition.

I took a tour of the little room.  It wasn't much of a "museum" but just four cases in a one room house.  I looked in the first case and saw a few sets of Mythic Dawn robes.  I had seen those before in my grandmothers wardrobe collection.  Next case held the last remaining page of the Mysterium Xarxes, the evil book that brought Dagon into Cyrodiil.  Now the third case, that made me stop in my tracks.  Four books, and I knew what they were when I saw the color of the blood red leather they were bound in.

- A complete set of Mythic Dawn commentaries by Camoran.  This was rare anywhere in the world, especially 200 years after worship of Dagon was outlawed in Cyrodiil.  As he explained some mystic somethingorother in the fourth case, I carefully slipped all four into my pack.  I tried to pay attention as he explained where to find something that went with the thingamabob in the fourth case, but I agreed to something I am now unsure of, said goodbye and quickly left to run around the corner and check out my new books.  Sure enough, they were the real deal and a match of my grandmother's set, and those were the only other full set I had ever seen in any library or collection.

I slipped out of town and took up camp southwest.  Far enough away he wouldn't find me if he noticed the missing books.  Tomorrow I'll be setting out south, my main goal being the mountains separating Cyrodiil and Skyrim, to reforge the Gaulder amulet.

Until next time.

- ST

Three Books, Three Brothers


Dear Diary,

I set out from Whiterun after doing a bit of trading.  Stocked up and ready for a long journey I started northeast for Fellglow Keep, where Urag believed the three stolen books were taken.  

At the end of the short trip I came upon the ruins of the keep.  I saw a couple bodies and realized I had been here once before - I had killed off the rude inhabitants and camped for the night the last time I was through. I wasn't sure what I was in for underneath the ruins, so as I entered the door to the old prisons I prepared my weapons with poisons.

The dungeons were old but showed signs of recent use, and human inhabitants - bits of food,wine, and plenty of books, the latter I found plenty of down there. I stalked down a couple corridors before I found my first enemy, a man in robes guarding a door.  I knocked an arrow and fired, landing squarely and taking him down.  I moved the body aside and picked the lock to the door.  Inside were the old jail cells, with people inside.  They seemed friendly and couldn't imagine someone attacking their rescuer, so I picked the door to each cell.  They gathered together and spoke for a moment, then moved on.  I thought they would try and escape but must have had revenge in mind as they ran deeper into the prison. As I begun rummaging through the desks and shelves for books, I heard yelling and a commotion in the next room.  I grumbled, grabbed the last of the books and followed.  The three of them had found two more men in robes.  The odds on their side I snuck around from a distance and looked for more loot.  But as I began walking the two men summoned Daedra to their side and now my newly escaped friends were outnumbered.  I drew my bow and joined the fight, helping to drop the two men, the two Daedra's hold releasing but not before one of them killed an escapee.  We went into the next room, which was filled with instruments of torture and bodies of what looked like the jailbreakers' comrades, which sent the two remaining men into a rage.  They found a man in robes at a desk in a corner and had taken him down with magic before I could even respond.

I found the key to continue on the man, and unlocked the door for my followers, as I planned to search this room some more.  However once again my comrades went in full charge against two men with summoned entities, but they were outnumbered two to one and were taken down.  I had been back behind the entrance to the room and the men did not see me, so while they took a moment to put away their weapons I took them down with arrows.

The room contained another three cells, one containing a wolf, one empty, and one a man different from the others.  I spoke to him and he begged me to release him, so I attempted to pick the lock but it was not a traditional one.  I looked around and found the switches to the doors, and flipped the one I had hoped was for the man and not the wolf.  I was wrong.  The door to the wolf cage popped open and we stared each other down for a moment, an arrow drawn ready to take it down, but after a while I realized it must have understood what was going on and wandered into a corner and laid down.  I put away my weapon and went over to the man.  He seemed grateful but nervous.  I asked him about the books and he said he knew nothing except where we might find them but I sensed he was lying.  He offered to help and I agreed, but took note to make sure he kept in front of me.

The two of us delved deeper into the prison, now at an area that must have been the old barracks. There were several rooms of beds, storage, and a kitchen.  We came upon a couple more robed men but stealthily took them out with magic and arrows.  We then came to a larger room.  It opened up a bit more and went to the left.  There were several pillars to the left and I saw no enemies, but I did see in front of me an altar with a book on top of it.  My excitement got the best of me and as I ran for the book I heard shouts and looked left.  Two men were behind the pillars and had spotted us.  My partner ran in and I drew my bow, but I could not get a clean shot.  He took down one of them but unfortunately fell to the other.  The remaining man looked up at me and began to charge just in time for an arrow to split his face.  I didn't know whether to mourn the man I had released or be thankful he wasn't around to pull something tricky later, but I kept moving.

Further down in the prison I came upon a large room with three altars, each with a book.  This must have been the three books I was after.  I carefully walked up to the first to take it, but a woman appeared and did not look too happy.  She knew what I had done to her followers and was upset I had interrupted the projects going on in the old keep.  I told her I was there for the books, even going so far as to ask nicely, but she was not going to give them up. I told her to just shut it then, as I wasn't leaving without them and went to shoot an arrow her way.  However as the arrow left and was on it's way she teleported to another side of the room.  I turned on my heel and tried again but this time she summoned two Dadra in front of her, one of which took the projectile and roared in anger.  I was in a bit of trouble, but I knew if I could take down the woman the two Daedra would dissapear, so I tried to focus her.  It took several shots to finally hit her through her teleporting and bodyguards.  The arrow cracked into her kneecap and she cried out in pain, then scoffed and cast a spell that made it disappear.  This wasn't going to work, so I changed tactics.  I pulled out old Frosty and charged in.  I smashed the injured Daedra and it crumbled into dust, then turned and shouted at the other and it's master right behind.  The monster resisted the power but she fell as a solid chunk of ice.  I disregarded the demon and began wailing on it's master.  Three strong blow landed before she got back up and teleported away.  I sighed as she replaced the Daedra that fell, but now the other original one was on the other side of the room.  I put away my weapon and called upon some ice magic, blasting into the new one with both hands until it wailed and fell into a pile of ash.  My concentration depleted I stepped forward drawing my bow, shoved the shocked  conjurer and as she stumbled back put an arrow in her throat.  She fell silently and I took a moment to catch my breath then grabbed the books and left.

Upon leaving the keep, I set out south to the resting place of the third of the three brothers to visit so far.  It was fairly unremarkable from the outside, just a cave with some wolves prowling around.  It's plain look and the fact that it was on an island must have been why it was fairly untouched.  As I entered the cave, I saw a hole in the floor, and some caverns going back.  I went through the caverns, three total, but each one was a dead end.  I looked around for another entrance, and couldn't find anything, but then it hit me and I laughed.  "I'm supposed to jump down this damn hole huh" I thought to myself as I looked down with humor but also fear.  I shot an arrow down the hole and stood silently listening for something to react to it.  I hear nothing, so I shuffled for a moment, gathered my courage and jumped.  I hit water at the bottom and frantically swam for shore, unsure what was underneath me.  I found a door on the other side of the water and went through.  Inside was the interred body of Lord Giermund upon an altar, still watching over the crypt.  I took a key he was holding and his epitaph for my collection and continued on.  The rest of the tomb was fairly unremarkable, other than the architecture and some annoyingly hard to find levers to proceed.  A few dead...undead later and I found the resting place of Sigdis on one of three islands in the middle of a large room.  As I approached there was a massive boom and Sigdis rose.  I drew my mace expecting a similar battle as the others, and the island was too small to effectively use my bow.  However as soon as he rose he laughed and disappeared in blue light.  I ran behind the coffin with my back to the wall unsure what to expect.  I drew my bow and held an arrow ready to fly, as I saw him reappear.  However he came back as three instead of one!  I was unsure how this sort of magic worked, so I let an arrow fly at one and dropped it, and they all disappeared.  That was too easy, I thought, and sure enough three appeared again, one on each island, and I chose more wisely this time.  I struck Sigdis and he reeled but not before firing as well and grazing my head with an arrow. He kept doing his trickery but I was smarter.  I could see the arrows I had previously shot into him as he reappeared, easily picking him out of his doppelgangers.  He finally fell with a roar and I collected the last piece of the amulet.  I left through a hidden passage and was back outside. It was almost dusk so I camped out for the night.  Tomorrow I have a decision - to continue on to the west to reforge the amulet, or go north back to the College and collect my reward.  I will have to sleep on it.

Until next time.

- ST

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Hunter's Moon


Dear Diary,

I set out south from Folgunthur, heading for Bard's Leap Summit west of Falkreath, where Urag gro-Shub the College librarian believes an ancient book is stashed.  The walk is fairly uneventful, besides the sights and a few angry woodland critters.  I stay the night at Rorikstead, about halfway there, stop to pick some vegetables for the road and continue on. The terrain become more trecherous as I get closer to the mountains, and as I reach the base of Bard's Leap I can see some markings of a Forsworn camp.  I can see why the Forsworn would choose such a place.  The ruins are very steep and twist around the side of the mountain.  As I creep closer I spot a scout up high, and another man torturing a Nord attached to a cruel device.  I loose one from Aether into the scout dropping her, then another into the torturer as he turns.  I check the Nord but he is close to death, so I cut him loose and turn him over to die comfortably.  I continue up the mountain facing more Forsworn, but being sneaky and taking one down while the others arent looking sees me to the summit without a single face to face fight.  At the top there is a giant waterfall and at the mouth of where the waterfall is coming from a small cavern with an entrance.  I carefully sneak up and peek inside.  Two Hagravens are chanting something awful over a man on a table.  I must have caught them at the end of their ritual.  There is a boom and some ethereal lights and the man rises.  My attention is too focused and a misstep onto a twig gets their attention.  I draw my bow and drop the man as he turns, then draw my shield and Mr Frosty (my freshly enchanted mace that I have been carrying since I met Delphine).  It proves worthwhile as I smash one in the face with a satisfying sound of cracked ice.  Dazed, it reels back and I swing for the other.  They simultaneously cast some powerful fire magic, and I am forced to retreat momentarily to drink a potion.  I give them a taste of their own medicine with my own fire spell, taking down the more injured old bird, then drop the other with an uppercut from Frosty.  As I gather my wits I remember to check around, grabbing the man's heart off the table as well as some other reagents, and find the book Urag was looking for in a chest off to the side. I attempt to read it but it is in some other language that gives me a headache, so I pack it away and check my map.  My next objective is on the other side of the Throat of the World, so I decide to head east to Falkreath.

While the weather is gloomy the terrain around Falkreath is quite beautiful.  The trees are quite dense so I find myself more nervous than usual, constantly looking for small high points to check for movement.  The forest is home to some sort of woodpecker that sounds exactly like shuffling skeleton bones, which kept startling me.  About halfway there I came upon a tall fort set into the mountains.  I saw no entrance so I continued around it away from the base.  As I turned around one tower, about 50 yards out, I heard I roar and a dragon flew from the north over the castle.  I knocked an arrow in case it spotted me, but it turned about and went back at the castle.  It was circling and breathing fire on the ramparts.  I could make out arrows being shot at the dragon and gathered there were at least 3 people fighting the dragon up there.  I was unsure who it was so I erred on the side of wanting to help, so I yelled at the dragon and fired an arrow into it's belly to get it's attention.  It worked and jerked it's head to my location, quickly turning to me.  It broke through the trees and landed below me behind some boulders.  I took advantage of my location and fired arrows into the beast while I was shielded from it's breath.  The icy enchantment seemed to be extra effective against it, as it was near death already and bucked in pain.  It took to the sky again but at this point the three men from the tower had come down to fight with me and were also letting arrows into the dragon.  After a few volleys of 4 arrows it finally fell, but not without crashing into the men and taking two of them with it.  I gathered my wits and continued down the road.

I reached Falkreath shortly before dusk.  I sold a few things I had gathered and stayed at the inn.  I awoke the next day to head out to Whiterun, but as I was leaving town I couldn't help but overhear a story of a girl that had been ripped apart by a beast in the night. I asked around and found out he was being kept in the local jail so I went and spoke with him.  The man certainly didn't seem like a beast, although he was notably quite hairy.  He had a gentle demeanor and told the story of how he has a cursed ring that causes him to hunt people like animals uncontrollably. I couldn't let this man die.  If his story was true then it seemed he was innocent.  I offer to take the ring and it jumps from his finger to mine.  In surprise I try and take the ring off but it is magically stuck on my finger.  He tells me in order to get it off I need to hunt a legendary beast in the woods outside Falkreath. I tell him I will and turn to leave, but I hear a roar and commotion and turn back and he is gone.  I have a feeling this man is not what he seems, and that I should keep my wits about me as he might be lying after all.

As I leave the prison I am attacked by a random man.  He says I "will pay for what I have done."  Surprised as I thought I was quite innocent, I fight the man and defeat him.  Giving a "hello??" expression to the guards, I turn and search the man.  Nothing exceptional except a contract.  He was sent to punish me it seems, but the biggest surprise was that it was from Urag gro-Shub!  He must have noticed the missing books from the library.  Maybe he will forgive me when I return with all he requested...

I go due north from Falkreath and just outside the city run into quite a commotion.  Several bandits atop a wooden roadside fort, firing into three Thalmor agents, and an Imperial guard and Stormcloak prisoner right beside.  I of course quickly take priority on the prisoner, letting him loose and giving him a sword to let them sort that out.  I then turn on the bandits and fire arrows at them.  Between the Thalmor's magic, the Imperial bow and my own, they drop quickly.  I stop for a moment and the Thalmor seem quite thankful, but as the Imperial realizes what happened and chases his prisoner out of sight, I turn on the Thalmor and with a feral scream beat them into a bloody pulp.  I am not sure what gets into me when I see those dirty elves but all concern for life leaves me.

I continue north to where the beast is supposed to be, and turning around a tall rock I spot it.  It is not Sildur the prisoner as I thought it would be, but a huge majestic white Elk.  For a moment I turn away, definitely not going to kill such a beautiful animal, but then I remember this might be the only way to help Sildur, so I knock an arrow and kill the animal as painlessly as possible.  As I approach the body I am shocked when it's ghost appears. It speaks, and introduces itself as the spirit of Hircine, Daedric lord of the hunt.  He explains where I can find Sildur, but that he has also dispatched many other hunters after him and I had to hurry if I wanted to catch the prey.  He told me where to find him, in a grotto due north and around the tip of the lake.  So I run.

I enter the grotto to see the moon has magically changed to a bright blood red.  There is a camp at the entrance and three bodies, but one was not yet dead.  I speak to the Khajiit and he tells me the beast is too powerful, but more are on the way.  I hurry and round the corner, and atop a high rock in from of the moon a giant werewolf appears.  I had never seen one before but read of them in legends back in the libraries of Cyrodiil.  It introduces itself as Sildur, as I somewhat expected, and understands if I have to kill him.  I offer to instead help.  He is a bit surprised but very thankful.  We join up and stealthily continue through the grotto looking for the other hunters.  Between his feral hand to hand combat and my bow, the hunters are no match for us, and we easily clean out the paths.  He thanks me for helping him and promises to never go back to civilization again.  I thank my new friend as well, and leave him for the entrance of the grotto.  As I leave Hircine greets me again.  I expect him to be upset but instead he is quite impressed by my resourcefulness.  Hircine rewards me by lifting the curse on the ring and bids me farewell.  

It is late into the night so I camp a ways down from the cave, and the next day head back to Whiterun.  I sold quite a few things I had found the past few days, and return to the Jarl to have my house fully furnished.  It is quite nice and comfortable now, with plenty of shelf space!  Tomorrow I will set out for the other side of the Throat.

Until next time.

- ST

Friday, November 18, 2011

Tre Fratelli


Dear Diary,

As I set out from the camp I went over my map, planning my progress for the day. I realized there was a tomb nearby just out of the way on my journey to find the first set of books that was related to a previous encounter I had working for the College.  I did not mention it to anyone, but down in Saarthal I found a book and an amulet in what seemed to be an important grave.

The story in the book told of three brothers Gaulder, who were the sons of a famous archmage.  The mage owned an amulet that was the secret to his power, and he refused to share it with his sons.  The three plotted and successfully killed their father over the amulet, split it in three, and were then chased all across Skyrim.  As each was caught and executed, they were entombed where they fell along with their amulets.  Saarthal was one of these resting places, and Folgunthur to the southwest was another tomb named in the book.  I decided to take a quick detour and see what I could find.

On the way south I ran into two camps.  One Imperial, one Stormcloak.  I spoke to both sides and to be honest have trouble understanding the problem.  Skyrim wants independence and to keep to themselves, and that is respectable. The Imperials need to unite all of Tamriel to fight the Thalmor.  The Thalmor are the ones who are restricting the worship of Talos through a forced peace agreement with the Empire, it was not a decision of the Empire themselves.  It seems to me the Stormcloaks should just suck it up and fight with the Empire for the sake of Tamriel, as the Aldmeri Dominion is a much bigger threat to us all than this petty arguing.  I wish I had known this information earlier in my time in Skyrim, as I ran into many Thalmor earlier in a mission previously kept secret due to sensitivity.

But I let both camps be and continued on to Folgunthur. It sits just below Solitude, and as I snuck up on the tomb I came across a camp next to it. It looked fairly fresh, the coals still warm, so I did a bit of searching and found the Journal of a Mr. Valen. He recorded his search for an artifact that would allow him access to the tomb, as he had heard the legend of the three brothers as well and wanted the amulet for himself.  He had found the artifact in Bravil, and unfortunately it sounds like he killed the man who owned it, a man I knew and sold many an artifact to.  He eventually made his way via ship to Solitude and took on a party of several adventurers.  It looked like I had been beaten to the second part of the amulet, so I hurried into the tomb in search of the men.

The first room contained several bodies.  An adventurer and a few undead.  He had not been dead long, so I knew I was not far behind.  The puzzle to continue had already been solved, and I proceeded to the next room.  The story was the same for several rooms - a dead adventurer or two and some more undead.  I finally came upon Mr. Valen's body a ways down and up some stairs.  He was still breathing but died soon after.  I took the artifact and some notes, and continued.  There were quite a few undead in the hallways of the crypt, but I had dealt with these before and put an arrow into each one before they could even awaken, and my practice sneaking in other caves taught me how to step on traps without setting them off so my course through the tomb was fairly easy.  At the end of the tomb I found another large door with keyhole and three dials for the combination.  I knew to look on the key, and sure enough it worked.  However when the door seal popped, I heard a huge commotion behind me.  There were sarcophagi on each side of the room, 6 total.  One popped open, a Draugr coming out, but I knocked and loosed an arrow before he could rise.  In the meantime another popped open, but the adrenaline allowed me to do the same to him.  In less than a few seconds, I had dropped all six.  One after the other in a speed I didn't realize I was capable of.  Fear turning to satisfaction, back to fear, I took a step to turn and heard  many more in the massive room in front of me.  It was the tomb of one of the brothers, and he started to rise.  I once again felt fear and let out a quick shot out of reaction and surprise.  My heart skipped a beat as I saw the arrow I regretting firing so hastily as soon as it left the string, fly and then land square between his eyes! I didn't know whether to thank a watching God, thank myself for remembering to place an enchantment on the bow, or the bow itself. We have been together since I entered Skyrim, and maybe it's possible for a weapon and it's user to grow a special bond over time.

But I digress.  I laughed to myself in satisfaction, collected the amulet and used the key to leave the tomb via a back passage.  There was a wall of the dragons in his crypt as well, and I will have to go see the Greybeards at some point to figure out what it means.

Uh oh.  I forgot to stop and visit them last time I was in Whiterun.  Delphine and Mr. E are probably worried...

Until next time.

- ST

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Northern Exposure


Dear Diary,

After my carriage ride to Whiterun, I was still a bit stunned. My head was just clear enough to remember to purchase the abandoned home, but I did not stop to sleep or make my new place more homey. I wandered northeast into the wilderness to get away for a while.  I would say it was a conscious decision to just enjoy the change of climate and the views, but it was less than that.

I left Whiterun and headed northeast.  I passed a few farms but did not stop to talk.  My goal was the northern coast before sunset, but a few encounters kept me from meeting that goal.  I camped north of Windhelm for the night, and the next day headed for the coast.  When I finally reached the edge of the water, I realized it was exactly what I was looking for.  The coastline was beautiful, quiet and peaceful.  Not a soul in sight other than some Horkers and an occasional troll.

As I wandered further north I came upon a shipwrecked vessel called the Winter War.  I am no sailor, so I couldn't really tell how long it had been there.  In case it was recent and there were survivors I snuck up to the ship to take a look.  I saw a scruffy looking man with a huge axe cooking some food next to some crates full of what was likely stolen goods - random items and obviously not a regular ship's cargo.  I drew my bow and let one good arrow into him and he fell, thankfully, silent.

I approached the creaking ship and decided to explore further.  There could be more of them and I would rather get the jump on them than they find their fallen comrade and come for me up the coast.  There were two ways down.  A crack in the middle of the ship and the stairs I could see in the back of the top cabin, the door flapping open in the wind.  I decided to hop down through the crack and heard some voices.  I follow them to a back room and silently rounded the corner.  It turned out to be one man talking to himself in his sleep.  By his random assortment of garb I could tell he had also been up to no good so I put him to sleep permanently and helped myself to his gear and a chest nearby.  I will have to return later as I couldn't carry it all.  I need to either stop hoarding books or find a safe place to stash them all.  I tend to take after my grandmother in that regard, but I digress.

I would have made this newfound shelter my home as I do enjoy the thought of having my own ship to stay in, and I love the peace and quiet and climate up here, but I wasn't sure if there were more bandits out there that would return.  I counted more beds than men in the ship.  So I continued on.

There isn't much to write about in my walk up the coast other than the gorgeous views.  I did run into two Horkers sitting outside of a small cave containing a chest.  It took me a minute or two to decide what to do, even going so far as to draw my bow and knock an arrow, but I just couldn't do it.  They didn't deserve to die because they happened to pick a nook in the coast that contained a chest.  For all I knew it was empty and I couldn't live with myself if that is how it turned out.  I will have to return later and see if they have moved on.

I turned from the Horkers and rounded a corner.  I came face to face with a wolf and the same predicament.  I knew he would not move and my only other option was to swim a few stones throws in the freezing water.  As he stood me down I apologized and made sure the arrow landed for a quick and clean kill.  I took his pelt and my arrow as to not make it a total waste in his honor.

As I stepped forward from the wolf and looked up I saw one the greatest sights so far, rivaling Markarth.  What seemed to be a temple or chapel, massive in size, sitting high atop a rock that seemed barely wide enough to hold it aloft.  I tracked the pathway up to the rocks and charted a course to get into it.  I walked the path and checked my map, realizing I was outside Winterhold and the "chapel" was actually the College of Winterhold.  The excitement could barely be contained as this was one of my top spots I intended to visit when I entered Skyrim.  The College was a bastion of knowledge, and a perfect place to base my explorations from.

I walked into Winterhold and did not receive the welcome I expected.  Don't get me wrong the townsfolk were nice, but they were quite glum and all told me the story of how the original city had fallen into the sea, but somehow (some believed beyond coincidence) the College remained perfectly intact, and it alone.  Decided to proceed with caution as all must not be as it seemed, I gained access to the college and became a member.  They were nice enough, giving me my own room and access to many masters of magic to train me in the arts.  But as I wandered, I came upon something that was even more grand than the place itself.  More amazing and awe inspiring than anything I had seen so far. 

The biggest, most encompassing and well kept library I have ever seen.

Hundreds, if not thousands of books.  After the minute it took to regain my composure and get over my impulse to take every single one of them, I walked up to the librarian and talked to him about the collection.  He sold me a few books, and then mentioned he also bought them, but was looking for only a specific few.  He named books that were one of a kind and scattered all over Skyrim decades ago.  One of a kind books so obscure he is the only one that can translate them?  By the nine, what are dragons again?  New priority it is.

So he marked my map for a few places to try looking for the buried ones, and those he knew the locations of that were stolen.  I took a nights sleep in my room and set out the next day back up the coast.  I now am staying the night at a camp with a guy named Deekus (Note to self: his name sounds familiar, and this nice Icon of Diabella I couldn't help but swipe does too.  I need to take better notes.) at another crashed ship, and tomorrow I will set out south to find more books. 

Until next time.

- ST

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Innocence Lost


Dear Diary,

We reached our destination.  Mr. E explained to me the meaning behind wall of the Blades, but we are still unsure of our next course of action.  Delphine suggested I go and speak to the Greybeards again, so I set off out the back entrance to the temple.  It was getting late, and noticed a Hold I had not yet visited only a short walk away, so I decided to detour and find a safe place to stay for the evening.

What a mistake.  Overnight turned into several days.  My curiosity and tendency to help those in need got the best of me once again.

But a moment after entering the city, a citizen went on a crazed rampage killing a woman before myself and a few guards took him down.  A man by the inn whispered something to me and dropped a note.  It said to meet him at the shrine of Talos, and curious as to what was wrong with the now splattered man, I decided to take him up on it.  In the shrine he told me the Forsworn were the rightful owners of the hold, and they were making guerrilla attacks on the city against it's citizens and the merchant nobility - the Silverbloods.  While this definitely upset me, I wasn't inclined to take action until he told me I could intervene in a specific case if I did a bit more digging.  He gave me some information and I began my search.

As I left the temple I was approached by a man named Vigilat Tyranus.  He asked if anyone had been in or out of the abandoned house he was standing next to.  I said no, as I had just entered the city myself, and he mentioned some things about Daedra worship.  Being a native of Cyrodiil this got my attention, and I offered to help him search the house.  There isn't much my people hate more than a Daedra cult planning something devious in our own cities.  As we walked in, I couldn't help but note how twisted this whole Hold was, and wondered if I should just walk out.  I had other obligations after all.

But as we searched the house we realized something was not right.  My newfound partner and I delved a bit deeper when things began to fly off the shelves.  The house was haunted!  I raised my shield to stop some cutlery and a potion from smacking into my head.  A voice boomed from somewhere in the house, and from there I cannot remember much.  All I can recall is it forced Tyranus and myself to duel to the death, and unfortunately his blood was spilled...The voice released me and I realized what I had done, and began to cry for the man.  However I realized where I was, and that there was a possibility to get revenge on this voice that was now beckoning me deeper into the house.  I ventured deeper into the basement, and then into a cave, where I found a shrine.  There was a weapon on the altar, and I thought to take it so whoever was here would be defenseless against me (which was only fair for what it had just previously done!) but I was quickly trapped in a cage of Daedric metal and the voice began again.  It was a Daedric lord, not a human after all.  It asked me to bring an end to a man who was desecrating his shrine.  Seeing no other way out I lied to the demon and said I would bring an end to it.  It seemed desperate and was happy to hear me devote myself to his cause and let me go.  As I left, I thought to seek out this man and offer him all he needed to continue to torture this monster.

I shut the door behind me, looked up at the beautiful sky and Markarth architecture and felt a great deal of relief. If only these citizens strolling by knew what was behind that door.  I regained my composure and continued to look for clues on the Forsworn agents.

A long story leads to me being imprisoned.  As it turns out, everyone was involved.  Everyone!  I was not the first to find myself in the Cidnha silver mines out of selflessness.  There was no way I was going to rot in this prison though.  I knew finding the Forsworn leader down here was my path to getting revenge and freedom.  It took some persuasion to get to the man, finding the things I needed to let him pass, and when I finally did, I had to choose between another man's life and mine.  A man who had just helped me out, and was innocent as well.  I considered the alternatives.  We could have both just served our terms and lived, but who knows how many more would be put down there in the meantime.  I felt it had to be done, and I made it as swift and painless as possible.  We escaped through a tunnel, and after a short battle the Forsworn had their leader again, while the Silverbloods lost a great deal. 

I left the city as fast as my legs would carry me and hopped a carriage to Whiterun.  I wanted to get as far away as I could.

Until next time.

- ST

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Chance Encounters


Dear Diary,

Please forgive me, I have not written to you in several days.  Rest assured, as it has only been out of secrecy and the protection of those with me that I have not.  I have made another ally, Dalphine, who I have been working with to infiltrate an enemy gathering.  We learned a great deal about the true nature of the dragon threat, and made our way to Riften to find a man so sought after he was living literally in a hole in the sewers.  Just in case this diary should fall into the hands of undesirables, I will only refer to him as Mr. E.

After finding Mr. E I led him back to Riverwood and Delphine where we discussed our next move.  I will not name our destination as I am writing halfway to our destination (and I have already been the mark of assassination attempts), but it is east, on the way to Markarth.

We set out from Riverwood and split up to be safe.  Better some of us get there than something terrible happen and none.  I have run into many strange things in the short distance from Riverwood to this small camp:

- A strange man in a hurry, gave me an axe and said to hold onto it.
- Another man asking if I had seen a strange man in a hurry.  I gave him the axe and he was quite grateful.
- A camp, which at first looked quite nice and worth checking out, but then I saw the bear warming up by the fire...as well as the two dead men.
- An assassin attacked me in the middle of an open field.  He seemed surprised  I saw him coming.  In his belongings I found a note that read like instructions on how to find me, and mentioned a "dark brotherhood."
- A total of 3 dragons.  Two I easily dispatched, one with the help of a guard of a nearby town.  The third was Alduin himself, resurrecting a dragon.  I sent a few arrows at him and interrupted the ritual, after which he flew off, no doubt to return later.

Finally after coming upon a small valley occupied by a couple of Hagravens, I quickly dispatched them and walked around the rocky corner.  I stood in surprise at a huge camp of Forsworn (who worship the foul beasts).  They also stood in shock, thought about where I just trotted in from, and concluded I had done something bad to their dear bird women.  About a dozen of them instantly drew their weapons and rushed at me.  I dropped two with well placed arrows then drew my weapon.  It seemed as soon as I killed one two more took his place.  I was pushed back further back into the gorge and I turned but saw no way out.  Gritting my teeth and accepting the grim situation I was in, I dove back in.  But something was different this time.  I saw bright lights behind them, and wondered what it could be.  As the lights drew closer my attackers lost impetus and began to turn to face whatever was smashing their rear.  As their numbers thinned I saw it was none other than Delphine with Mr. E tossing fireballs like the crazy old man he is!  As I regained my composure I helped finish off the savages and soon after thanked the two for their help.  I realized without them I would have surely been food for some birdlike monstrosity.

So a ways down we camp, and tomorrow we should reach our destination.

Until next time.

- ST