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.
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