Skyrim Day 055 - In Memory of the Late King

10 Frostfall, 4E201

Whiterun

~~~

Waking up alone again was a great relief, a freedom from a burden I am not accustomed to carrying. What I am accustomed to carrying is a long list of tasks I have promised to resolve for people all over the province. One was the delivery of the late King's war horn to a shrine of Talos east of Whiterun, near the river.

While on my way out of Solitude I stopped at the local apothecary, bought some supplies, and added another task to my list: locate and return a ring said to posses an alchemy-enhancing enchantment. The alchemist, an old woman named Angeline, admitted she and her niece could use the ring's help with keeping their shop profitable. This surprised me, but I suppose having the East Empire Company housed in the city undercuts her business.

Angeline had already purchased the ring from a traveling mage of the College, the man having promised to send the ring to her after he returned to Windhelm. She received a letter a week later saying it would be on its way via a caravan, then...nothing. Her inquiries resulted in an apologetic letter clarifying that the road between Windhelm and Solitude was frequented by bandits, but he was not responsible for its loss. Her money, naturally, was not returned.

So I was to search a road spanning nearly the entire width of the province for bandits carrying a small enchanted ring. I agreed, it would give me something to do for the next few days, or so I thought.

I left Solitude and followed the unmistakable sound of hammer-strikes against an anvil and in this way "found" a not-so-hidden camp of Stormcloak rebels. They turned to me and I nearly fled right then, but one stood up and greeted me rather jovially, asking if I was from one of the caravans. I was not, but they still bought some gemstones from me and bade me return if I was in the area. Strange, for I expected hostility.

Stranger still was my encounter with an Imperial Legion patrol not more than two minutes later along the road, the sounds of the Stormcloaks' blacksmithing ringing clearly in our ears. The three Legionnaires were pointedly not hearing it and walked along the road, not more than a hundred yards from the rebels, without a concern. This "civil war" seems to have not yet started in full.

Dragon Bridge was fortunately free of live dragons and I made good time, passing Morthal before noon. Near Stonehills I ambushed a trio of dragon-mask cultists, announcing myself by slaying one of them outright. Their fire magicka was surprisingly weak and even what little resistance I had owing to my own experience with spells nullified much of their force. One of them had a note on his body that alluded to a cultist shrine somewhere in Labyrinthian, the ruin where I had been sent to retrieve the Staff of Magnus. Another thing to worry about now.

A Khajiit caravan came upon the remains of my little battle as I was rifling through the cultists' meager possessions and they politely pretended to not notice anything unusual as they marched by. Through with searching the bodies, I hailed their leader, Ri'saad, and asked about any rumors of bandits between Dawnstar and Winterhold, as I had not found any from Solitude onward.

Ri'saad told me of a group of bandits near the crossroads between Dawnstar and Windhelm who were occupying a cave near the road. The caravan had no issues passing by, but he had been warned of them before leaving Windhelm and they were known as a troublesome group. He felt certain that my ring would be found with them. In thanks I discounted my offers to him and we parted amicably. After I was a fair distance down the road I looked back to see them stripping the corpses of their clothing and mundanes. Anything for a Septim, I suppose.

Scouring the crossroad revealed a small cave on Windhelm's side, but inside were no bandits, just a dead vampire, a very live giant bear, and a Spriggan which managed to surprise me after successfully pretending to be a small tree. For whatever reason it only attacked after the bear was dead, so its ambush caused me no trouble. What I assume is Angeline's ring was in a half-frozen chest in the back of the cave, the only sign that the bandits had been there at all.

Coincidentally the shrine to Talos wound up being almost exactly due south of the former bandits' cave and I needed only walk along the road to Whiterun for an hour or so to reach it with nary a problem. Once I found the shrine I had only to kill two Thalmor agents sent to destroy it, take the horn out of my pack, and lay it reverently at the feet of Talos.

I returned to Whiterun, the  city I cannot seem to escape, and stopped at Warmaiden's to make use of their forge. My armor needed repair and I wanted to experiment (and probably ruin) with a steel sword I found to see if I could heat the blade enough to introduce silver into the metal, which is said to make weapons cut vampires and werewolves more effectively. After several attempts and a great deal of patience I think I managed it, but I shall see if Adrianne can examine it tomorrow, just to be sure.

After that the only thing left to do was aggravate Lydia with my presence at Breezehome, but while her facial expression did not change, her mood seemed to be a bit better. I wonder what occupies her here while I am away.

Labyrinthian is not terribly far from here, I think I will pay it another visit and see if I cannot figure out what the cultists are after.

Morrowind Day 55 - Endless Errands

8 Frost Fall

~~~

I had written yesterday that I would be traveling to the Urshilaku tribal camp today to deliver the documents of the Dissident Priests to the wisewoman, who I believe will be able to interpret them more clearly. However, when I looked at my woefully incomplete map of Vvardenfell the camp was so very far away and Molag Mag so very close to Telasero. As such, I found myself in Caldera soon after I woke and was plodding away from Telasero as the sun began to rise.

I was told the Redas tomb was south of Molag Mar just over the mountains, so I reasoned that walking across the bay from the fortress was a more direct route. Naturally, the weather was overcast and rainy around the former fortress,which made walking across the water seem a little ridiculous. The entire bay is dotted with blunt mounds of rock and small islands, making it useless for shipping, but great as a shortcut.

The only approachable shore of the peninsula is straddled by rock formations on either side, making for a very defensible harbor...if the Daedric ruins were not in the way. I managed to skirt the ruins and encountered only a few lean-looking Nix-Hounds  while I searched for the tomb. Faral had said that the tomb had an Ashlander camp right outside of it and true to her word, there was a sizable camp of at least four individuals sitting right outside the entrance. They eyed me as I walked by, but I did not approach them any closer than I had to and they let me be.

The tomb was heavily guarded by Dremora and the winged Daedra women, though two of the three Redas family heirlooms (the robe and chalice) were in a room just a few steps from the entrance, guarded by a Dremora wielding a nasty looking mace. Once fearsome, the Dremoras' predictable combat strategies have lessened the thrill a bit, but I will never be so foolish as to completely discount an opponent. Nearly all the Dremora I have fought start by casting spells, usually beneficial ones on themselves, then crippling ones against me. I use this habit to my advantage by getting their attention  and waiting for the spell-cast. This immobilizes them long enough for me to shoot them with an arrow or two, which can break their concentration and ruin the spell. Should this happen, they inevitably charge me disadvantaged and injured.

After securing the robe and cup in my pack, I continued further into the tomb. The only way led to a flooded tunnel guarded by one of the female Daedra. While I have been encountering them more frequently, they remain a potent enemy and definitely not one I am comfortable facing more than one at a time. Their barbed tails are capable of blows strong enough to take me off my feet and their wings are just as cruelly barbed. However, their wings enable them only capable of short hops and the spear's reach lends me a great advantage.

Regrettably, I could find no way to avoid having to dive underwater to navigate the tunnel, so I left most of my equipment, including my spear and bow, at the foot of the watery steps and drank a nearly-stale flask of Water Breathing. No Khajiit enjoys being submerged in water and the instinctive hesitation towards attempting to breathe the stuff makes it worse. No matter how many times I have done it, I cannot convince myself to willingly submit to the sensation of breathing water and it only comes after my body is quite sure I am drowning. This time was no different: I spent an embarrassing amount of time at the foot of the pool, floundering and splashing uselessly as I tried to stop holding my breath every time I slid into the water. The Argonians can keep their marshlands, the Khajiit, our deserts and forests.

The tunnel was short and ended at another small series of steps. My eyesight is not very good underwater, so I could not tell what, if anything, was waiting for me. I did pick out two stone columns near the staircase and managed to sneak out of the water and behind a pillar. It is fortunate that I had done so: another one of the female Daedra was stalking around the room while a bored-looking Dremora paced restlessly on the far side. Against these two I had only my spells, a few potions (most left behind) and my dagger.

Invisibility, as usual, proved a valuable ally. Casting my spell, I was able to sneak to the opposite corner of the room where the Dremora was pacing and deal it a grievous blow in the head with the dagger. It immediate zapped out of existence  only a small pile of valuable Void Salts remaining where it once stood. The female Daedra had not noticed its comrade's demise and I tried to repeat my trick on her, but my first strike was poor and only wounded her. As she turned to strike at me, I had a sudden burst of inspiration and ran back into the water. I had never seen Daedra of any kind in water and I was hoping this one would not want to enter it as much as I did not.

I was right: the creature stared into the water, but would not descend the steps into it to pursue me. The underwater tunnel was actually quite short and I managed to hold my breath for the duration of the swim back to my equipment. With my Water Breathing spell, I managed to drag my spear back through the tunnel and cautiously ascended the steps back into the guarded room. The Daedra had gone back to patrolling, seemingly not noticing or caring that the Dremora was no longer there.

The battle does not leave much to be described. The advantage gained from my invisibility spell and my spear made the battle a short one. The Redas family's axe was Dwemer-made and enchanted with a minor combat spell and such is my swimming ability that it took two swims through the tunnel, one to carry my spear through and one for the axe. I estimate that it was just about noon by the time I was back underneath the hazy sunlight of Morrowind and I dripped my way back to Telasero and eventually to the top of the Redoran canton in Vivec.

My reward was simply another task from House Redoran. A Redoran retainer had been challenged to a duel by a retainer of House Hlaalu, but had gone into hiding instead of facing his challenger. For House Redoran this was unacceptable behavior. My task was to shame the man into facing his challenger and thus restore the honor of House Redoran.

The man, Rothis Nethan, had been seen at the local Redoran cornerclub, Flowers of Gold. I don't know why he thought that would be a great place to hide, but I cornered him in the club while he was busy emptying goblets of flin. Possibly due to the alcohol he agreed to face his opponent in the Arena, but only after I supplied him with ten healing potions. I bought a dozen from the Redoran alchemist and he set off for the Arena canton.

The one-sided duel

The duel did not last long. Rothis had brought a dagger (silvered) to a two-handed sword fight, to twist the common phrase around. His opponent was skilled in using it and Rothis was clearly no fighter of any sort. Rothis fell quickly and House Redoran's honor was therefore (and somehow) assured. When I went into the pit of the Arena to fetch Rothis's personal belongings, his foe was respectful, stating that he knew he would win, but Rothis did prove to be a man of courage. I bit back the retort that Rothis had really been a man of drunkenness and stupidity. I returned his daggers to Faral, who was relieved the man had died, as he was something of an embarrassment to the House.

She also had no more tasks for me, leaving me free to pursue the Nerevarine prophecy. I took a room at the Six Fishes in Ebonheart and will try to make my way up north to see the Urshilaku tribe once again.