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.
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