Back at the manor tonight. I think I've got a plan.

  At least I won't wake up like I did this morning.

  Erandur shook me awake, and asked to check me over for traces of Vampirism. I told him that aside from a massive headache from downing I don't know how many magicka potions yesterday, I felt fine, but I let him have a look anyway while Valdimar made breakfast and Lydia broke camp.

  He confirmed that I was cured, but still reminded me of my promise to get a blessing from the Temple as soon as we got back to Solitude.

  We finished breakfast, then left the tomb. It was nerve-wracking, but we managed to clamber our way down the cliff face with minimal bruises. Septim's almost as good as a mountain goat. He was down on the road in under a minute. Valdimar grumbled a bit, and Lydia whispered to me that he wasn't a fan of heights.

  It was gray and rainy and with the height of the cliffs I had no idea where we were. But I could see the light from that tower, and it turns out I was was right! It was a lighthouse, not far past a ship moored at a little dock nearby. I went to the top of the lighthouse just for fun - I've never been up one before - and Valdimar said that Solitude should be back the direction we came, but just a bit farther. He pointed through the rain, and I could just make out the silhouette of what I think was the Blue Palace?

  We went back to the road, and while I briefly considered going aboard the ship to see who was in there, Lydia held me back. She'd heard rumors of pirates in the area, and we still had work to do.

  After a bend in road, I recognized where we were, and we were soon climbing up the steps from the shoreline and walking into Solitude. I headed for the Temple of Arkay so I could hand Styrr Potema's skull, but Erandur grabbed the collar of my cloak and turned me towards the Temple of the Divines.

  He practically hauled me over there, with Lydia and Valdimar snickering behind us the whole way.

  The priestesses were surprised to see us come through the front door, but glad that we'd survived the catacombs. Erandur told them about how I'd been infected twice down there. They confirmed that I was all right, but they agreed with him, and said I needed a blessing, just to be sure.

  So, I got another Blessing from Mara, and we went to the Temple of Arkay.

  The Temple of Arkay is right across the street from the Bard's College, and we had to dodge Viarmo again as we made our way across the street.

  I don't think Lydia and Valdimar have caught on yet, but if we stay in Solitude too long I'm sure they will.

  Styrr was happy to see us "not carried in!" and eagerly took Potema's skull from me. He said that we had done a great service for Solitude, and that he would get started on sanctifying the Wolf's Queen's remains right away. He told us to go tell Falk Firebeard what happened, and to let him know that Potema wouldn't be a problem any more.

  We said goodbye to Styrr, then headed towards the Blue Palace.

  It was early, so the court was quieter than usual, with only Elisif, Falk, and another thane there. The jarl and thane were discussing Hold business, so Falk and I could talk a bit more openly.

  He was glad to hear that we'd succeeded, and he awarded me the Shield of Solitude, along with 1200-some septims! He said that Elisif couldn't give me the Shield herself. If she was seen doing it, it could raise questions as to Why, and those were questions he didn't even want asked.

  I told him we understood, and went to let Elisif know that we'd finished "the job".

  By this time the other thane was gone, and Elisif thanked us for helping out at Wolfskull Cave. She said that since we can be trusted to be discreet, she had a small personal favor to ask.

  Lydia scoffed at being called "discreet", but Valdimar jabbed his elbow into her side to quiet her.

  Elisif gave Lydia a look, then said that when Torygg died, she gave offerings to each one of the Divines. Not Talos, obviously, and she asked if I could take Torygg's War Horn to a specific shrine of Talos for her.

  She doesn't worship Talos, but she knows Torygg would have wanted a "proper" Nord burial.

  Of course we agreed, and she marked on my map where the shrine was. She thanked us again for handling the problem at Wolfskull Cave, and we said we'd let her know when the job was done.

  It started to rain as we walked to the market. I peeked at the map and thought about a few other jobs people had asked us about.

  That sword we promised to find for the ghost isn't actually too far from Solitude, and I saw Noster Eagle-Eye ducking into the Winking Skeever. He said his helmet was in a cave, and it was near where Hjalti's sword might be. The shrine Elisif wants us to go to isn't that far from Whiterun, and I really want to go to Breezehome to see about rooms for the kids, but we still need to get to Sarthaal…

  It seems like the more things I try to knock off the list, the more get added on.

  We traded a bit with Beirand and Sayma, then did some food shopping at the market before making our way back here to the Manor. The trip was quiet, but we did have to flatten ourselves against the cliff on the other side of the water to avoid being spotted by a dragon.

  It looked like it was focused on the Blue Palace, so we took the opportunity to make a run for it. We got back in the house, and once I dried off I went to make some nails.

  The guys went back outside to check the garden and the fish hatchery. Lydia's realized that when I start making nails, I'm doing some thinking, so she hung around inside. When I was done hammering, she helped me build a few small pieces of furniture, and we talked about what might be the best course of action.

  She agreed that we've spread ourselves a bit thin, and needed to take care of the smaller things before we headed to Sarthaal.

  She also reminded me that the Greybeards were still waiting.

  I know.

  Each time I Shout, I wonder if I'm doing it right. Even the draugr we face seem to be better at it than I am, and they're dead!

  While we were talking and putting up a chandelier in the dining room, Erandur, Valdimar, and the dog came back in, all of them dripping wet. Erandur had an armload of things from the garden, and Valdimar had a big slaughterfish in his hands.

  They'd all fallen into the hatchery! Lydia and I laughed, and Erandur gestured to some holes in his pant leg. He asked why in Oblivion I thought putting slaughterfish in there was a good idea?!

  Of course, as soon as they got their cloaks off, Septim shook himself dry all over them, and then flopped next to the fire. Erandur started to complain, then sighed. Not like it mattered. They were already soaked.

  I went to put the food away and Valdimar said he was going to go to the cellar to clean the fish smell off. Erandur turned down his offer to join him. He'd wash up later, after a mug of warm mead by the fire.

  While we finished hanging the chandelier and Erandur hung his scarf to dry, he explained what happened. When he was done in the garden, he went to grab a few of the smaller fish from the hatchery for alchemy ingredients, and while he was bent over the side, Valdimar said "Something about the view". Lydia and I snickered, and we could tell that he was trying to hide a blush.

  Anyway, he splashed some water at Valdimar, who grabbed him by the boot and threatened to tip him in. While they were roughhousing, neither of them saw the slaughterfish swim up. Septim did, jumped for the fish, and they all ended up in the water.

  Lydia and I laughed, and I volunteered to get dinner started while she told Erandur the plan. We decided to start close to home, and do as many things near Solitude as we could before heading to Whiterun. We'd drop off the horn at the shrine on the way, then do whatever we needed to do in the city before we came back here to tell Elisif we'd completed her task.

  We'd still have to take some items back where they belonged, but hopefully we'd get those things done quickly, so we could head to Sarthaal.

  Erandur agreed that was a good plan, then went to get his washing things ready for when Valdimar came up.

  Even though Lydia and I couldn't gossip like we wanted, we were able to talk in private for a bit.

  We think Valdimar's not just teasing Erandur. Yes, it's always fun to pick on the priest, especially when he gets flustered so easily, but he does it a lot. Lydia pointed out that play-fighting was pretty normal in the guard's barracks when the guys would flirt with each other, and what happened earlier today counts!

  As for Erandur, we can tell he's already getting comfortable. He's started to drop the accent more when we're not in public, and he's been talking more casually. He's even taken to keeping his hood back, but he hasn't taken off his scarf since… Well, now, because it's wet, but not since the other night.

  Oh, well. Small steps.

  Anyway, we ate the offending slaughterfish for dinner, everyone had a good wash, and Lydia's confident she's worked out a good route for us tomorrow.

  Time for bed!

  Tirdas, 19th of Frostfall, 4E 201

  I need to make this quick. We're camped out not far from Dragon Bridge, at the base of a mountain, and it's raining. The fur tent is great for snow, but it leaks and I don't want this thing to get wet and make the ink run before it dries.

  We left the house and headed for the mill near Solitude. On our way through the swamp we found a frightened woman dressed in rags who looked like she'd walked barefoot through Oblivion and back!

  Erandur checked her over and did a bit of Healing while the rest of us got her food and drink.

  She'd been kidnapped, and was held at a place called Mistwatch. She managed to pick the lock and escape, but had been wandering lost for days without seeing anyone else until now. All she really wanted was to get to safety, so we pointed out the way to the stairs that lead up to Solitude. She said she didn't need an escort, but that if we stopped the bandits who took her, we'd be heroes. She marked the location of her captors on my map, thanked us again for the help, then headed towards the city.

  Dammit, I forgot to ask her if there were other prisoners!

  Ah, well. We'll take care of those bastards soon enough.

  We crossed at the mill, then made our way up to the main road and walked towards Meridia's shrine. The road up near there was the best way to get to the cave where Noster thinks he lost his helmet.

  The way up was really quiet; there were hardly any travelers on the road. We only ran into a frost troll lurking in the run-down tower near where Lydia and I had first found Septim. We crested the hill, and I could see Northwatch Keep from the road.

  The cave, Steepfall Burrow, was not very deep, thankfully, and only had three frost trolls in it. Well, it was deep, as in, there was a really nasty drop not far inside with a narrow bridge of stone over it, but there wasn't much to it other than that.

  We found the helmet, along with a few other things, then left. I debated going back the way we came, but we decided it would be faster to go down the mountainside to get to Dragon Bridge, then go from there.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  It started to rain as we hunted for a safe place to climb down. We ended up near Olda and Hroegir's mill, and after checking the map, decided to head towards where his secret stash was.

  I bet Lydia that he'd rebuilt it, along with more trained guard wolves. We told the boys about Hroegir, and they sided with me on the bet! A guy like that wouldn't give up so easy, and I was right. There were more wolves, and more bottles of mead in his little trough.

  Lydia has dish duty for the next three nights!

  We kept going a little ways, and we think we see a way up to where the sword is. It started to storm pretty bad, and we don't want to try going up the mountain in this weather, so we found a good place to set up camp. It's not that late, but we're getting to bed early. We're all a bit tired from the hike. I've got first watch, so I'm just going to drink my wine and read this book I found in Steepfall Burrow.

  By the Nine, this place is THICK with Forsworn.

  The weather had cleared by the time we woke up, and as we broke camp we realized we'd been sleeping practically in the shadow of a Forsworn encampment! If we'd continued on the path over the hill last night we would've walked right into it.

  I can't believe they're this close to Solitude!

  Luckily the main part of the place seemed to be in a cave, so we just took out the guards before we moved on.

  Turns out the way up the mountain was not actually a way up, so we kept going around the base of it until we found the road again, which led us to the right place. We saw two hunters fighting some Forsworn scouts on the road and we went to help. Lydia told me to watch out, and grabbed me and Septim before we stepped in some bear traps that the Forsworn had set all over the road. They'd already caught a traveler and killed him; poor bastard.

  Once we'd dealt with those two and the hunters went on their way, we saw a partial ruin on the side of the mountain. There's an altar-looking space and a tent with some loot in it. There were only two archers as guards, along with a mage.

  We didn't find the sword, but we did find a rickety door leading into the mountain.

  Inside, we found a cave that turned into a ruin. There were a few Forsworn in there, but they were in pairs at most, so they were little trouble. I managed to dodge a swinging blade trap with minimal scratches, too! Just past that we found a room where there were three lightning runes on the floor!

  Valdimar told me Ice Spike can set them off, so I gave it a try. That's handy!

  There was a door with a nasty lock in there, along with an archway to another room. I tried my hand at the lock first, and got it in five tries.

  Not my best, and Lydia won the bet.

  We checked the next room before we went on, and found an enchanting table along with a sleeping mage in a side bedroom!

  I have no idea how she slept through three lightning rune explosions, but the first thing she did when she woke up was summon a Frost Atronach that practically filled the room!

  She wasn't counting on me putting my Flame Atronach behind her summon, thus trapping her in her room to fight the flames while we dealt with her conjuring.

  Once she was dealt with, I found a key on her that presumably would've opened the door I'd just picked the lock on. Oh, well. I'll take the practice. I also found a letter on her desk addressed to an "Alaric" that said their "Matriarch" whoever that is, had brought them there, and that their numbers were growing.

  That's not good.

  Through the door we found a nice Dwarven sword stuck in some rubble, stepped over a very obvious circular trap trigger that was right next to a spiked door - It's like they're not even trying - and went up some stairs. There was a door at the top of it, and when I went to put my hand on it, I noticed that it was cold.

  I told the others we were going back outside, and to get ready. It was probably an encampment, and I was… Mostly right.

  We went through, and honestly, even with the Forsworn camped everywhere, it's beautiful. Even Lydia said that she's never seen anything like this.

  Surrounded by a wall of sharp, sheer rocks is a huge clearing scooped out of the top of the mountain. Erandur said it was probably once a volcano. It's filled with an ancient Nord ruin, with arches, platforms and a tower at the far end. There's trees by where we came in, and there's even a wide stream complete with fish running through it.

  You could probably fit a small village in here!

  And it felt like there was almost a village's worth of Forsworn pillagers, Briarhearts and other fighters that turned their bows on us and let down a storm of arrows as soon as they saw us. I managed to Shout the first volley out of the sky, and was glad for the trees that blocked a lot of the rest as my voice recovered. Other Forsworn swarmed the narrow bridge to our half of the clearing, which made them relatively easy pickings for Lydia, who held her spot on the bridge next to Valdimar. Erandur and I both managed to find spots on either side of them so we could go after their attackers or concentrate on the archers with our magic, and Septim stood between us, mauling the few who managed to break through to us.

  Good dog!

  Eventually it was only the archers left on the back platforms, so we rushed them as a group, with Septim and my Flame Atronach leading the way.

  You know, I think they're afraid of dogs. As soon as Septim gets his teeth on them they turn and run!

  I mentioned this to the others, and they'd noticed it, too. Why the Forsworn didn't realize that running from Septim just made him single them out was beyond me. It's fairly normal dog behavior, but maybe they don't keep dogs at all? They must know that dogs aren't wolves.

  Right?

  Anyway, we've cleared them out as far I know, and I'm sitting at a table next to a campfire writing this while I eat some of the food we've found. It's cold out here, but we found a fire with a circle of tents around it with some bedding in them. We're keeping watch to keep the fire going and make sure there's not another Forsworn fighter lurking in the dark somewhere.

  It was too dark by the time we finished to really search the place, but I did find Hjalti's sword in a chest behind the table here! We'll do a more thorough search in the morning and see what other goodies we can find.

  It's almost time to wake up Lydia, and while I know I'm not going to sleep well in this cold, I don't mind it too much. Septim's claimed a tent for me, and he's curled up on the pile of straw and furs. It'll be warm when I go to sleep, thankfully.

  The stars are really beautiful from this high up. The cliffs surrounding us block the rest of the landscape, so it makes you focus on them.

  Divines, I could use some of that.

  I am so excited to sleep in an actual bed!

  It would be better if we were somewhere cozy, like back home at the Manor, or at an inn, but I'll take it over last night's freezing half-sleep in that sad excuse for a tent!

  How do the Forsworn DO it? I mean, I know they wander around half-naked most of the time anyway, but I can't imagine sleeping like that every night!

  At least the witches have some sense.

  Anyway, we all woke up cold and hardly rested. The fire just kept us from freezing to death, so we were all feeling a little "off" today. Lydia mostly spoke in noises, and Valdimar's sunny humor turned to sarcasm. Erandur, well…

  I want to say he was about as well-tempered as a dragon, but I'll be honest, I was just as snappish as he was. I feel bad for the others for having to deal with us today.

  We spent a good while looking around the ruins and the clearing, checking the bodies we didn't get to yesterday and scouting out any extra loot. We found a lot of supplies, a decent amount of gold, and even some handy potions.

  I also found another letter, this one addressed to their Matriarch. It said they were ready to attack, and were just waiting for her to give the word. Hopefully us clearing this place out throws off their plans enough to matter.

  It took me a while to search through everything because Erandur and I kept having to stop and warm up by the fires, and we could tell the others were getting impatient.

  Oh, well. I told them that unless they wanted to thaw us out later, they'd just have to wait!

  Septim was the only one acting like his old self, and I think he knew we were all on edge from the cold and the bad sleep. He started frolicking in the snow like a puppy, and actually got a smile and some laughs out of Erandur and Valdimar. Lydia called him stupid, but scratched his ears whenever he walked by her.

  I wish I could make him an enchanted collar or something to keep him safe.

  It was afternoon by the time we finished checking the outside, and there was only one small area left to go in; the big tower in the back left corner.

  It felt so NICE to get in out of the cold! There's a small brazier right by the door, along with a table and some shelves with a few alchemy ingredients, and beyond that, a door.

  We took a minute to warm up - Even the two Nords appreciated that - and opened the door.

  I don't know what I expected, but I wasn't expecting to see two witches and a hagraven having dinner.

  I think they were just as surprised as we were, and after a second of just staring at each other, a storm of magic exploded from both sides, scattering dishes and food everywhere. The witches died, but the hagraven teleported out of there!

  We took a second to look around, and gather more supplies. There was a third dead witch that had run in from the side room where we're going to sleep tonight. As for this room, it's got a high ceiling with a long dining table down the middle. The fireplace and cookpot are on one side, and some shelves and the door to the sleeping area on the other. There's a door at the far end, leading to the rest of the place.

  There's five beds in the bedroom, along with an alchemy table. I found a bit of gold, some ingredients and a scroll of Firebolt, too. In the center of the room is a table with a brazier on it, keeping it nice and toasty.

  I was so tempted to just sleep right then and there, but no one wanted to nap with a hagraven running around!

  We kept going, and not far past the door was a partially-collapsed room full of snow just off the corridor, with three Frost runes on the floor! There was what looked like a lot of clutter in there, too, but I could see some urns and armor in the back, so I set off the runes and went inside. I found some potions, a bit of gold in the urns, and a nice Dwarven bow. The armor was just fur, so I left it.

  We turned to keep going up the passage, and a short flight of steps. There's a little niche in the wall with a table holding a chest and some urns at the top of the steps, along with a trap tile! I almost set it off, but not because I'm so tired - I could hear chanting as I walked up.

  Somewhere in this place was a Dragon Wall, and it was calling to me.

  As before, the sound drew me forward. The Wall wasn't close enough to mess with my sight, but that chanting in my head was distracting, and made things a little hard to hear. I didn't know where it was, and maybe it was because of that I had this strange feeling in my chest, a sort of urgency, like I HAD to find it NOW.

  Septim knew I was getting… Distressed by it, and whined and nudged at me while I looked around, trying to pinpoint the sound. I felt a hand on my arm, and heard Erandur ask if I was all right.

  He sounded far away, and when I turned to look at him, he looked alarmed. I could see the glow from my eyes reflected in his. He whispered down the steps to the others that there was a Dragon Wall somewhere. He made sure I could see and hear him, but he didn't like that my head felt fuzzy, and the longer that I stood there, the more I could feel something heavy building in my chest. I had to find it!

  Erandur distracted me with the chest in front of me. There was a trap trigger, and I was able to focus on that for a moment. Having something that needed my concentration helped, and I was able to push the fuzz and the weight aside. Even digging in the urns beside it helped.

  The passage turned right, and there were more stairs going up. Erandur got me moving, and after a few steps asked if it was getting louder.

  It was.

  There was a door at the top, and I had a feeling if the Wall was there, that's where the Hagraven would be.

  I was half right.

  There was the Hagraven, along with two witches, but no Wall.

  We fought them, and like before, the hagraven vanished when her minions were dead. I did manage to get some nice hits in, though.

  The room had a throne in it, some shelves, and a drawbridge, pulled up. We could hear more witches on the other side, so I pulled a lever that was right there and dropped the bridge to keep the fight going!

  I think the chanting in my head was driving me a little crazy, but as I rushed across the bridge it faded until I couldn't hear it any more.

  The witches both went down quickly, and we realized that the next room was a sort of… Nest.

  There was a circular depression in the floor, and it was full of straw and hagraven feathers. As I stooped to pick up a feather, I heard a sickening sound above me, and Valdimar shouted for me to look out. I dove to one side, and a frostbite spider dropped out of the ceiling! It landed where I had been standing, but Septim was on it in an instant, and kept it distracted while I hit it with Flames to finish it off.

  I'm normally good about looking up. I'm so tired.

  I looted the nest and we kept going, through more winding halls, past more traps (they're everywhere!) and another meeting with the Hagraven. That time I managed to paralyze her with my poisoned dagger, but she still managed to teleport!

  Here and there, I would hear whispers from the Dragon Wall at the edge of my hearing.

  I was so relieved when we finally found it! There's a huge cavern-like space, with cracks that let the snow and wind through in spots. The floor goes up into a large platform, with the Dragon Wall on the right, an enchanting table on the left, and a door between them. I ran up the steps to the Wall, and practically threw myself at the glowing runes.

  Even though I braced myself, it still hit me pretty hard. It was strange, though. The light was slow and the noise was… Dense and heavy-sounding. I felt like I was carrying ten times what was in my pack, and I ended up sliding down the wall. Valdimar made sure I didn't hurt myself as I went down, and I needed a second to shake off that heavy feeling.

  When I was good to go, we went through the door and ended up back outside, on top of the tower. There's an altar table up there with a dead witch on it, along with one of those little walkways that jut out almost like a dock so you can have a good view of the place. The hagraven was there, too, and I think she summoned Ice Wraiths?!

  I'm not sure. All I know is that I was so damn sick and tired of chasing her everywhere, I threw a fireball, then poisoned my dagger and rushed her.

  Septim followed me past the Ice Wraiths, and as we took care of the Hagraven - she's better than most mages up close because she has claws, but not by much - the others took down the Ice Wraiths. She didn't have much on her, but there was an enchanted dagger with Soul Trap stuck in the body of the dead witch on the altar. There was also a chest with some goodies in it tucked around the corner by the door.

  We didn't want to go all the way back through to get to the sleeping quarters, but I noticed that there's stones and bits of rubble right there by the chest that we could safely climb down. Valdimar wasn't happy, but he was just as eager to get inside as the rest of us, so he didn't argue. We came down almost right next to the entrance!

  I started writing while the others got dinner together and cleaned up the dining room a bit. It's actually rather nice in here, if you ignore the blood and severed goat heads. During dinner Erandur apologized for being such a bear for most of the day. That started off a wave of apologies, and we all agreed to never try to do anything when we were that exhausted ever again.

  Anyway, I've got first watch. We're pretty sure we got everyone, but those feathery bitches can teleport, so who knows? Lydia figured we were better safe than sorry. I hate that she's right.

  Still weird how badly not being able to find the Wall got to me. Over dinner Lydia wondered if that's something the Greybeards might be able to teach me to handle. I've never not been able to find a Wall before. Maybe I'm just too tired?

  I can't wait to get some damned sleep. Even Septim's tired after dealing with our nonsense all day. There's enough beds for all of us, and he's snoring loudly on one of his own.

  At least writing in this helps keep me awake. Terrible for actually paying attention to things, but better this than sleeping at my post, right?

  I don't know why, but the mental image of Erandur dragging Bronwen around like a scruffed cat never fails to make me cackle!

  You know one or the both of them would've ended up in the fishery *eventually*.

  The chanting distracts me while I'm playing, so I figured it would get to Bronwen eventually, especially if she couldn't find the damn thing.

  -------

  In-Game Things:

  I didn't know sleeping and being cold would make my character so exhausted in the game. The debuffs were BAD. I've never done that with the mods I have installed, so that's good to know.I'm a terrible judge of the in-game terrain, which makes sense for City Girl Bronwen.

  -------

  I'm feeling the fanart itch. What should I draw?