Dear Diary,
I spent a few days in Solitude, sorting the items I had found in my travels, and came upon the leftover scrolls Jzargo had given me at the College. I had forgotten all about them, and he was probably wondering where I was, so checking my map I decided to make good on my promise and set out for Winterhold. It was over a days walk from Solitude, and when I got there I found him in his quarters, working on something tiny and apparently secret. He turned abruptly and greeted me, asking about the scrolls I had given him long ago. He was excited to hear the results. I told him they created a massive explosion, and asked if that was intended.
"Oh, no that...was not intentional." He said, and thanked me for the work. I told him I was going to the library, and he needed to as well so we went together. He was putting away several books he had under his robes as I did some reading at a table. I was interested in reading more about the Daedra in Skyrim since I met Mora, and found out the shrine of Azura was south of there. When I was finished reading Jzargo was loitering next to me.
"Oh...um, I am going to some Deadric shrines, want to come with?"
"Hmm yes, this pleases Jzargo, as Jzargo has nothing else borrowed to return."
"Can you fight?"
"Yes Jzargo is quite adept at magic, and I enjoy wearing exotic boot armors. Jzargo is also adept with weapons, but alas there are no weapons in the College."
"Well let's go find you one."
We head out south towards Azuras shrine, taking our time and sneaking around to find him a weapon. We mostly ran into cave bears and other small four legged animals, which Jzargo was happy to use as a weapon, but I suggested something made of steel. We took a twisting and turning path below the shrine, and finally ran into someone east of the mountain it was perched upon.
"That man has sharp items, plus more. Jzargo suggests we take them. Jzargo will flank."
I took a southward path, Jzargo north. As I drew my bow and prepared to fire upon the man, I realized Jzargo was quite literal, and the man was soon in between us and in a crossfire. I tried to motion to Jzargo that this wouldn't work, but he gave me a quick thumbs up and pounced on the man. There was nothing I could do as Jzargo punched him into submission, but it seemed I wasn't needed as Jzargo stood on top of the man and raised his new weapon in the air.
"Very sharp! Jzargo will use!" Jzargo didn't bother to search the body, so I helped myself and found a strange book called Boethiah's Calling. I quickly skimmed it and it gave the rough location of her shrine. I thought two in one day was a good bit of progress, and made note to go there next.
We walked up to the shrine. There was a lone woman at the top, who told me of a vision she had. Some dark mages had taken the icon of Azura and were doing foul things with it, and asked me to return it. She was the only caretaker of Azuras shrine so she could not leave, and was a bit old and feeble at that, no way she could take on a group of evildoers herself.
"We will do this, yes." Jzargo interrupted, and I asked for the location of the ruins in her vision. She marked my map north of Falkreath and we bid her goodbye.
We travelled south past Windhelm, Jzargo complaining about the cold the whole way. Around Winterhold I ran into the lone reveler I met months ago around here, who helped me with the bandits. I said hello, and ecstatically tried to explain to Jzargo who it was, then turned to realize he was standing way off over there, so said forget it and gave the man some more mead and left.
We reached the shrine of Boethiah around dusk. We walked up toward the shrine, stopped, realized the cultists were crazy, shrugged and left.
North of the Throat of the World we stopped by a cave to pick up the beacon of Meridia's shrine. She has asked me to find it a few weeks ago and this was my first time in the area. Nothing more in the cave but a few trolls. Jzargo noted that something smelled foul, and I explained it was all the half eaten corpses under our feet.
We made another quick stop south, to give the Crimson Nirnroot to Sinderion's friend. She had a nice Nirnroot farm, which I thought was impossible. If it weren't for all the other amazing things I had seen recently, and Jzargo chasing her chickens, I would have been interested.
We crossed the mountains south of the Throat and walked along the banks of Lake Klinalth. Jzargo enjoyed zapping the fish we passed and I often had to stop and wait for him. The ruins the woman pointed to me to were collapsed and half underwater, so I had to enter via a trapdoor at the top of a tower that was now level with the water. The ruins were full of magic users and plenty of interesting books. Sneaking around the hallways I heard the inhabitants mention a good deal about the things they were doing with Azuras star - trying to fit human souls into it. Between my axe and Jzargo's magic we cleared them out easy enough. At the end beneath the remains of the man who had originally taken the star to try and put his own soul into it we found it. It was beautiful! A giant gem made of other gems - diamonds, rubies and saphires. It must have been worth a fortune, Jzargo noted, and I quickly stashed it and we made our way out.
It was getting late so we went south to Falkreath and spent the night. We had some ale and some milk and did a bit of shopping. Our next destination was just west, a place Silus thought the last piece of the Razor could be found. As we left town we ran into a lost dog. He looked lonely so I walked up to pet it, and the thing spoke! He told me he was the pet of Clavicus Vile the Daedric lord of raw deals. He asked me to follow him to the shrine and if I did, I would get a reward. Jzargo was on board so we left and headed for the shrine. On the way we ran into a bandit toll on the road - two towers on each side with a bridge across - most likely an ambush. I turned to figure out a plan with my comrades when I see Jzargo zoom off towards the towers. He dodged two arrows and was lost to sight around the corner. I drew my bow and dropped one bandit as the dog chased after the cat. I searched for the other on top of the right tower, and could just make out his shoulder. He was drawing an arrow and then went to turn to me, and as I steadied my aim I was surprised to see him get tossed over the side of the rail - Jzargo had come around and knocked him clean off the tower. He looked at me then ran back down, and we set off for the shrine after I told him a thing about working together.
The shrine was in a cave chock full of vampires, but with three of us they were no obstacle. The only difficult thing was getting a jump on them, with the dog constantly yapping and pushing me around, and Jzargo making clanky noises and sniffing. Jzargo also decided to use a summoning staff I had him hang onto to, and was surprised to see a giant frost daedra appear at one point. Clavicus was happy to see his dog, although reason why I was not sure and felt uneasy about. He said he knew of a win win situation involving picking up a magical axe that was lost to him long ago. The place was way up north, but on the way home, so I agreed.
The dog continued to follow us anyway, and I wasn't sure whether to be happy about it, but I did not seem to have a choice. I normally do things alone and now I was suddenly in a group of three... and a half?
We pressed on west of Falkreath, stopped at the ruins to grab the peices of Mehrunes Razor, and headed north. It was a long trek to the mountains around Solitude, with many breaks to argue about direction and for the dog to sniff something. At dusk we arrived at Rorickstead and spent the night, leaving early the next day before the farmers so I could gather some wheat for future potions.
A short distance later and the two of them were back to slowing me down, so we split up around the start of the mountains. I walked for a few hours before I heard a roar and a dragon crashed down upon me! I barely had time to draw my bow and run before it snapped and just missed me. I jumped behind a rock and began peppering it with arrows. It breathed fire in my direction but the rock shielded me from the heat. It took to the sky again and came back around, forcing me from my hiding place. I ran forward and turned, shooting more arrows as it landed, but it wasnt doing much damage. The heat from the breath was unbearable and I was starting to fear I wouldn't be able to kill it. I shouted, knocking it off balance, and ran some more into a large gap between two high points in the rock, hoping it wouldn't follow, but it squeezed in and kept trying to snap at me.I was about out of arrows so I drew Thirsty and my dagger, and desperately looked for a different avenue of approach. As things were looking grim, I heard the clopping of boots from behind and right of the dragon.
"Jzargo is here boss, yes!" And he began pouring lightning into the dragon.
"Where's the damn dog?!" I shouted back as I shielded myself from fire, realizing the folly of leaving a cat and dog alone.
As the words escaped my mouth the dog ran up and pounced on one of the dragon's haunches, latching on and thrashing like...well a demon dog. I was relieved to have them back and changed roles to just distract the dragon while the dog's teeth and Jzargo's magic finished it off.
"Thanks for the help." I said to the two of them.
"It is no problem boss. But honestly Jzargo hoped the dragon would have eaten the dog."
The dog grumbled and trotted off north. We got the message and continued on our way. The cave with Vile's axe wasn't too much further and it was dusk again when we arrived. We ran into some "companions" on the way up, who looked a lot like the people who killed the giant when I first arrived at Whiterun. Nice people they seemed, would have to see what they are all about later. Three's company, and six is a crowd, so we parted ways and entered the cave. I was pleasantly surprised to see the axe right there in the entrance, on the altar being used by a lone vampire. Jzargo got twitchy and used the summoning staff. To the vampires surprise the big blue ice man walked up and smashed him into the ground in one hit. Easy enough, but I reminded Jzargo it was for emergencies only. I think he just really liked using it. Or hoped that thing would turn on the dog.
I grabbed the axe, and made use of an enchanter the vampire had in his possession to make Jzargo a new set of armor from the items we had plundered on our trip around the world. His previous set was rather funny looking and at least now he looked more like a proper feline knight. I also made him his own weapon, an Orcish axe we now call "Jzargo's Choppa" so there is no confusion. Maybe he will remember to use it since it has his name on it, instead of his claws.
We then left for Solitude stopping at Meridia's shrine. I put the beacon on the altar and found myself up in the air speaking to Meridia herself. For a moment I worried what the two down below thought, but then my attention was taken by the Daedra as she asked for me to clear out some shrine or something. To be honest I had dealt with so many Daedra the past few days I would agree to anything to shut them up. Too many to keep track of and I didn't want to get distracted from Mora's request. All I wanted was to see what Azura was all about!
"Welcome back boss." Jzargo said, and I motioned to head down into Solitude. We entered and did a bit of shopping, selling off what the two of us weren't using. My deeds in town recently and my Thane status might be why the shopkeepers didn't mind having a dog in their stores.
We are now stopping at the house, to drop a few things off and make some potions. Jzargo was complaining about all he had to carry so I made sure he knew where he could drop it all off. We are going to stay in town for the day and tomorrow set out for Dawnstar to return the last piece of the Razor to Silus. Or we might go right back to Vile if the two of them don't stop bickering.
Until next time,
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