It feels so good to be back at the Manor!

  I know, we'd planned to head to The Reach once we'd found Hjalti's sword, but we were bogged down with so much gear to sell we could hardly move.

  It was worth it coming back here, though.

  We woke up in MUCH better spirits than yesterday morning, and quickly made our way out through the mountain once we finished breakfast.

  I warmed up next to the fire-pit that's by the door and pulled out the map before we went down the steps to find the road. I opened the map, and Erandur nudged me and called my name. I told him to wait a second, but he kept trying to get my attention. I was so focused on trying to figure out which way the road to Solitude was that eventually he yelled, "BRONWEN!", then grabbed the top of my head and tilted my face upwards.

  I looked up just in time to see a gigantic red dragon, covered in nasty spikes, come down right in front of us and spew fire at my face.

  I manged to Shout a line of Frost back at him, before getting out my bow and poisoning an arrow to make him weak to Frost magic.

  I'm glad he hovered there a second, or else I never would have gotten him. The others were using their arrows and Frost magic on him, and I threw Ice spikes, along with my Shouts. I ended up having to take a handful of Flame resistance potions, but in the end we weren't too badly burned. He crashed to the ground not far from where the bear traps were.

  As the light of its soul surrounding me faded and it began to turn to ash, Lydia asked me what it felt like.

  It's hard to describe, but best I could say was it feels like being lifted up, and sort of fuzzy with a chill going up your spine, but warm instead of cold?

  Lydia hummed in understanding as I passed out some bones and scales to bring back here - It was too much for me to carry - and Valdimar said, "Ah… Like a lover's embrace."

  I mean, it's not exactly like that, but the soft feeling and warm thrill up my back are pretty close. I was about to say that, when from behind me, Erandur burst out, "What are you looking at ME for?!"

  Valdimar laughed and said he wanted to see his reaction. Apparently Erandur had thought for a second, then nodded! He knew what Valdimar was talking about.

  We all started to laugh as Erandur put his face in his hands and groaned. He was blushing, but instead of retreating into his hood like he usually does, he stood up tall and huffed that he's over two hundred years old, of course he knows what Valdimar's talking about. Besides, he'd been in an evil Daedric cult. He asked us, "And what does everyone say happens in evil Daedric cults?"

  Valdimar and I were snickering at the thought, but I knew Lydia wanted to make him say it out loud. She guessed, "Brainwashing?"

  Erandur gave her A Look as he put the dragon scales in his pack. Yes, that's how cults work, but that's not what he was talking about.

  "Ominous chanting?"

  Erandur rolled his eyes at her. Yes, there was a lot of chanting, of course, but that's not what he meant, either.

  "Spooky-looking robes?"

  Erandur paused at that one. Were their robes spooky? He didn't think they were, but agreed with me when I said that I could see people calling them that, yes. At least they didn't have tacky skulls on them.

  "So it's the robes?" I can't see her face in her helm but I could hear that smirk of hers. Valdimar and I were shaking, trying not to laugh.

  Erandur lost his patience at this and said fine, he'll say it, it's the orgies, godsdammit! It's just what cultists DO.

  "Each other?" Valdimar quipped, and Erandur put his face in his hands again as we all cackled.

  He said something like, "My Lady, I know I deserve punishment, but why like this?"

  We apologized, then changed the subject of his sake as we started to walk towards where I thought the road was.

  Of course, I immediately wandered us into another fight! We were walking by a ruin that I did NOT intend to look at when a handful or arrows flew by us. Three bandits popped out from behind the pillars, and we took care of them quickly.

  It looked to be an old tomb, and while we didn't go into the tomb itself, we did search around outside for treasure. A draugr jumped out of a sarcophagus at us, but that wasn't a problem. We found a few bits of gold and such, but not much.

  We went on our way, and continued to not find the road. The map's not much help, and several times I thought I found a way down, only to face a sheer drop. We eventually got to Solitude by heading towards Meridia's shrine, then down to the road from there.

  I wish I could say the rest of the walk was uneventful, but as I was nearly freezing to death from the cold, we ran into a group of Thalmor dragging this poor soul towards the road that led to Northwatch Keep!

  I couldn't let them get away with it, and I think they sensed my intent as I marched up to them. They all pulled their weapons, and after I said, very loudly, that I believed in Talos, we fought.

  Luckily, we were able to take care of them before any guards walked by. I took their armor, and we were soon back in Solitude. I found Noster begging not far from the main gate, as usual, and handed him his helmet. He taught me a few tricks he'd learned as a scout that should come in handy if we ever need to sneak past more Forsworn!

  We did our usual trading with Beirand and Sayma. They're glad to hear the house is coming along nicely, and Sayma even had a bone for Septim! I'm glad he's well-behaved whenever we go into shops and such.

  When we were done, we crossed over to the house. We unloaded what we wanted to keep, and I busied myself with some smithing and decorating while the others relaxed.

  It's been a quiet evening so far. The plan is to head to the Reach, then circle back here via Whiterun. Now for some dinner, then sleep.

  -/-/-/-/-/-

  All right, over dinner, Lydia and I managed to get some more information out of Erandur about his time in the Cult of Vaermina.

  I can't believe it! I mean, I can, now that I think about it. It's not that important but it was funny and I want to remember. Besides, I think it gave Valdimar hope!

  Speaking of, Valdimar hadn't flirted with him since this morning (if that even counts) so Lydia and I decided to grease the wheels a bit.

  I made sure to wait until we were partway through the second wine bottle before I asked if I could clear something up about the "cult activities" Erandur mentioned earlier.

  He'd had enough wine to get a slight flush, and he'd even taken off his scarf. I think he normally would've declined, but now he just laughed a bit and said fine, what did I want to know?

  I would like to say here that it wasn't my intention to get him tipsy, that's just how it happened. We normally split a bottle of wine over dinner, and tonight we just decided to have a second. I had as much as he did!

  Anyway, I said I had to know, because I heard A LOT of things back in the Capital. I wanted to know if it was an "anyone and everyone" thing, or "everyone with just the high priest or priestess" deal.

  Lydia piped up that that was a good question! She'd heard that in cults it was either one or the other.

  Erandur agreed, that was usually how it goes, and he took a second to sip at his wine as he thought. Lydia and I watched Valdimar try not to stare at him. He finally leaned back in his chair and said that it was "a bit of both."

  I asked him how that worked, and by Talos, I can not believe what I heard next!

  Erandur said that while during "those nights" it was a free-for-all, the three high priests or priestesses were always given "special attention."

  Valdimar gave him a sly look and asked, "Weren't you a high priest?"

  Erandur grinned into his wine, then started to laugh. I never expected to hear such a wicked sound come out of him, but I did!

  He then took a sip and gave Valdimar this half-lidded look over his glass that I still can't quite interpret before he leaned towards him and damn near purred, "For almost forty years."

  Valdimar blinked, then burst out laughing, and we all joined in. Valdimar called him a mad dog, and Lydia giggled something about how it's always the quiet ones. Erandur pointed out, between laughing fits, that he was usually asleep for months or even years! He had to make up for lost time!

  Once we'd all calmed down and gotten over our shock, Erandur was more flushed than before. He sounded embarrassed and said that he'd never admitted that to anyone. I just shrugged and said not to worry. I used to know an orgy planner. That's all in a day's work back where I come from!

  "Speaking of work," Erandur got up and excused himself. He wanted to do his nightly prayers, and wasn't sure if he should be thankful for his understanding companions, or beg forgiveness for remembering those times with the Cult so "fondly."

  Lydia asked, "Why not both?" and Valdimar said Erandur must've said that quite a bit, back in the day!

  Valdimar got a scowl and a napkin thrown at his head for that one, but I caught a little smile from the priest as he turned to go upstairs.

  Those three! I can't imagine life without them! And even though we've spent so long together already, I don't really know much about them.

  I mean, I know their little habits and how they take their drinks and what they're good at and what food they don't like, but I don't know where they come from! I feel like I know most of Erandur's story, and I know a bit about Valdimar, but Lydia's still a complete mystery, even though we've been traveling together for…

  Gods, it's been exactly two months and a day! I don't even know her birthday!

  I don't know anyone's birthday. I'll have to ask them tomorrow so I can write them down and we can celebrate them.

  If that's a thing they do here. I'm actually not sure.

  Oh, well. It's a bit of a hike to the Reach. I'll have plenty of time to ask questions tomorrow.

  Lydia's Birthday: 19th of Last Seed, 4E 178

  Valdimar's Birthday: 18th of Rain's Hand, 4E 163

  Erandur's Birthday: 4th of First Seed, 3E 427

  Lydia would like me to officially note that although she is the youngest, she is the most mature, and honestly, she's right.

  -/-/-/-/-/-

  We're in Rorikstead, spending the night at the Frostfruit Inn.

  We learned more about Erandur just now. It's not a happy story, and I have a feeling it's a lot worse than he's saying.

  Anyway, this morning we left the Manor early, and headed for the Moorside Inn in Morthal to resupply. I took a moment to get more firewood while we were by the mill, and Valdimar chatted with Thonnir and one of the other workers for a bit.

  People still distrust Falion, but since he seems to be a good… Mentor? Father? to Agni, he's winning them over a bit. They're also glad to know that we're making progress on Windstad Manor.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Valdimar went to the Hall to check in with Jarl Idgrod, and one of the guards told me they were glad to see him doing well. The Jarl made a good choice, he said, assigning him to me. Not only did he have another mage to talk to - apparently he used to talk their ears off about magic and Dwarves whenever he was around - but he only sat still when he was reading.

  He swore the Jarl had Valdimar go hunt Chaurus in the swamp just to keep him from "going crazy like a cattledog with nothing to herd!"

  I mean, he's right! He and Erandur talk constantly about magic and the books they've read or want to read while we're walking. If he's not sitting with a book at the house, he's usually chopping firewood or going on a patrol around the grounds or something. He's as antsy as I am.

  Just then, Valdimar left the Hall and we continued on our way. The road was quiet, and like before, I left it to chase some deer along the river. We followed it for a bit, and according to the map there's a pass over the mountain, so I decided to look for it.

  Instead, there was a dragon circling not far off.

  I didn't feel like fighting it, and Lydia noticed a cave nearby, so we decided to duck inside for a minute to give the thing time to fly off.

  Of course, we were attacked by bears as soon as we got near the cave! THREE bears! There was a dead traveler by the cave, too. We took care of the bears, and went into the cave.

  Guess what the cave was full of?

  YES! MORE BEARS.

  Well, I've got plenty of bear pelts for Temba, now! I already have more than enough, but getting five (I think) in less time than it takes to drain a tankard is… A lot. Luckily I don't think I caught anything from them.

  The dragon was gone when we left the cave, and try as I might, I couldn't find the pass the map said was there! No one else could either, so we just went back down the mountainside and towards the river. There's a path on the other side of it, so we crossed and took it until it stopped to turn away from where we wanted to go.

  Not far past that, we spotted a wooden fence surrounding a bandit camp! Taking care of them was literally like harpooning fish in a barrel. I got up on a little rock outcrop that went over the fence, and was able to summon a Flame Atronach right in the middle of the tents! There weren't many bandits, though, and we just picked them off while they fought the Atronach.

  As we went through the camp, we saw that they'd set up a bridge over the main road, and made a falling rock trap to crush or trap people walking below.

  Slimy, skeever-faced cowards. What happened to honor among thieves?

  Anyway, there was a small cabin at one end of the camp, and as we got close a man in some very nice armor (probably the leader) came out and tried to fight us. Lydia has his armor, now, and she's quite pleased with it!

  We'll have to keep an eye out for the matching helm.

  I found a trap door in the cabin, and went down into a little half-flooded grotto with a table, a dock with a boat, and an empty chest. There was a journal on the table, and I read it aloud.

  The bandit chief was having trouble with his men. There was a lot of in-fighting, and he was worried about a mutiny. He'd been skimming gold from the take, and stashing it in a chest just upriver so he could cut and run. I realized that that was the chest I'd found last time we went through here.

  Oh, well. He doesn't have that problem anymore! We also found some supplies (ours, now) and a lot of salmon in the water, which I hopped in to grab despite Valdimar's warnings that I was going to freeze as soon as I got back in the wind.

  Turns out it was worth it! There was a locked chest under the water, and before I ducked back down to try and open it, I heard Lydia offer a bet.

  Erandur won this round. He bet that I wouldn't have to come up for air.

  Sneaky bastard. He knows I have potions for that. I didn't need them, but that's beside the point.

  Anyway, we finished looting the place and continued on our way. Rorikstead isn't too far, and night was falling, so we decided to head for here rather than push for Old Hroldan. Besides, we have a lot of loot from the bandits, and I know K'irava will be at his trading post in the morning.

  The trip up was quiet, but in the dark I accidentally went off the road and up a little path. There was a house there, and as soon as it came into view we were swarmed by a pack (seriously, a whole PACK) of skeevers!

  Septim took care of most of them, and we walked towards the house. There was a small stone pile, like ones I've seen Nords use to mark graves, just to the right of it, with a silver ring and some food left out as an offering. I didn't touch them, and instead went to knock on the door.

  It swung open when I knocked, and more skeevers jumped up to attack us as soon as we walked in!

  After we killed them, we found a man lying in bed, dead.

  I looked around, and heard Lydia pull Septim away from the fireplace and scold him. I looked to see what he'd done, and there were a handful of bowls lined up around the hearth, each with some raw chicken or pheasant in it. He was snuffling at the raw meat, so I grabbed it and cooked some up for him at the fireplace.

  Erandur made a disgusted sound, then went over to the dead man. I heard him mutter, "Merciful Mara, you can't be serious…" as he went, and Valdimar followed him. Lydia gathered more ingredients for me while I cooked - No sense letting it go to waste - and we asked the others what they were talking about.

  Erandur said, "Ataxia. He probably got it from his pets."

  We looked at the skeevers around us, and again at the bowls on the floor. He'd been keeping all those skeevers as pets! Disgusting!

  I'd considered staying there for the night to save a little gold, but after learning THAT, I finished my cooking and we got our asses out of there.

  Rorikstead was just down the road, and as we walked towards K'irava's stall we heard a fight. We ran to see what was going on, and as soon as I turned a corner a vampire jumped me!

  Erandur flew into a rage and lunged at it. I let him handle that and went after the two thralls that were fighting a guard.

  Once we had them taken care of (and convinced Erandur that we hadn't been infected) we came in here to get some beds and have dinner.

  While we ate, Valdimar asked what was up with him and vampires, and Erandur sighed. I could tell he was blinking back tears as he explained how a "good friend" of his got infected once, long ago. He killed himself rather than turn into one of "those things."

  Valdimar put his hand on Erandur's shoulder and said, "Mara rest his soul." Then he started to apologize, but Erandur stopped him. He shouldn't be sorry. Erandur explained that his other memories of him are good ones.

  "They're nice to visit," he said, and he was glad Valdimar asked.

  Valdimar gave him a smile that I can only describe as "soft" and asked if he wanted to tell us about him?

  Lydia and I locked eyes over our soup bowls. We hadn't had the chance to really talk AT ALL, and we were both about ready to explode!

  Erandur said there wasn't much to tell. He was working with a group of smugglers and dealers hiding out on one of the islands up north. One day, a Redguard named Girhan at-Majnoon showed up and the boss said he was Erandur's new assistant. He said he used to avoid making friends, but soon they became "close" (that was the word he used!).

  He said that Girhan liked to play games, gambling or not, and enjoyed cooking. He was funny and he loved music, but "couldn't carry a tune with a pack horse". He was interested in magic and alchemy back in Hammerfell, but his family kept trying to push him into being a warrior like his brothers. So, he left the Alik'r Desert for Sentinel, got into some trouble with the guards there, then ran to Skyrim.

  That sounds familiar, doesn't it?

  They all looked at me and I shrugged. It was a good plan!

  Lydia asked if vampires had attacked their base, but Erandur shook his head and rubbed at his eyes. He said he wished that's what happened. It was actually a lot worse than that.

  Valdimar put his hand on Erandur's shoulder and said he didn't have to say any more.

  Erandur sniffed and wiped away a tear as he thanked Valdimar. Then he took a deep breath and said that it was late, and that we should really be getting to bed.

  He was right, so we finished our drinks and went to our rooms.

  Lydia and I finally had time to talk! First off, we don't think Erandur and Girhan were just "good friends". At the very least, Erandur cared deeply about him.

  Second, Valdimar has to be flirting. It looks like teasing, but I'm certain that he's flirting. Whether or not he's serious is still up for debate. Some people just like to tease, and if flirting is what works, they'll do it, so… UGH this is frustrating! I wish I knew why he was doing it!

  Thirdly - By the Nine, we had no idea Erandur would ever admit to being in an orgy! I mean, he was in a Daedric cult, so we're not entirely surprised, but looking at him now… It's just hard to imagine.

  At least Valdimar knows he has a chance! If he's serious, that is.

  We made it to Whiterun!

  Erandur was impressed with Breezehome, and with the city itself. At least, what little he was able to see of it. He's never actually been to Whiterun.

  It was not a quiet trip!

  We had an early breakfast in Rorikstead and went out to trade with K'irava. Once we were done with that, we decided that it would be faster to go up and over the mountain to Old Hroldan rather than take the road around. There was an easy slope to get up to the top of the mountain, and once we were up there we could see the tower of the Forsworn camp we'd cleared out not far from there.

  As we headed towards the crest of the mountain, we spotted a few small tents around a big one on a rocky outcrop up ahead, and decided to take a look. When we got closer, one of the ugliest animals I've ever seen came tearing out of the underbrush at us. It was dog-like, all black, with red eyes and a muzzle that was more teeth than anything else. It looked half-decayed, and it managed to get me as I tried to figure out what in Oblivion I was looking at.

  I've never felt a bite like that before. My arm felt like I'd stuck it in freezing water, so I blasted it with Flames as Septim lunged at it.

  I heard shouting, and looked up from our fight with the beast to see a person dressed in full armor attacking the others. Then I got hit with some lightning, and had to deal with a mage and the creature in front of me!

  Luckily, the fight didn't last that long, and I got a good look at the not-dog. It was wearing a collar! Erandur sneered and called it a Death Hound. Lydia said she'd heard of them, but never seen one before. Valdimar looked around and said the thralls' master was probably in the big tent.

  As we walked towards the campsite with our weapons and spells at the ready, the others explained that vampires sometimes had Death Hounds along with thralls to protect them during the day. Where they got them was anyone's guess.

  Inside the tent was an empty coffin along with some gold, and a trap door set into the rock.

  Reasoning this is where the vampires that attacked Rorikstead last night came from, we figured we best clear it out before they killed anyone else.

  I had to show Erandur that I had several Cure Disease potions on me before we went down.

  Going down that long, rickety ladder was nerve-wracking, but we made it! It looked like a large cave chamber at first, but it was actually an old, ruined burial mound that was mostly collapsed in the back. I was surprised to see that there was only a thrall and a single vampire down there, so we cleared the place out without much trouble at all.

  I found a decent amount of gold in there, not only with the vampire but also the old corpses spread everywhere. It looked like they'd been taken out of their tombs so the vampires could use them. There were also empty coffins laying around.

  I wonder how many vampires use this spot?

  As I hunted for loot I found a small mead barrel, but a thick, red liquid dripped from the tap, and a tankard, covered in clotted blood, sat on the table next to it.

  Vampires are disgusting. At least wash your damn mugs, people!

  We got out of there, and continued on our way to Old Hroldan.

  We soon found the path down the hillside, and partway down I realized that this would take us by where that couple, Talvur and Karan, were buried. I hoped it wouldn't upset Valdimar, but as the path flattened out, we were pleasantly surprised.

  The grave-site now has two piles of stones for markers, and on the big rock between them that the pickaxe had once leaned against is a Shrine of Mara.

  Erandur smiled and put his hand over his heart, then went over to offer some prayers. We joined him after a minute to get a blessing, then went around the bend to the inn.

  Leontius was on the porch, and the others stayed outside to talk to him while I went in to get some food and deal with the ghost.

  As I bought us all some food, Eydis said that the Ghost was just doing as he had been, sort of milling around the place and not bothering anyone. He was scaring off the customers, though, so she was glad that I'd come back with the sword.

  I handed the sword over, and he said that it had been an honor to fight with me, and went over some fighting techniques from their old masters that I "may have forgotten."

  I got lessons in sword and shield techniques that Tiber Septim once knew! Thanks, Ghost!

  When we were finished, he simply vanished.

  I bid Skuli and Eydis goodbye, and went out to hit the road with the others. As we walked, they said that Leontius told them about the shrine. They'd sent a message to the lady's father, and let him know what happened. Of course, her family came as soon as they could, and installed the rock markers and the shrine, and had a ceremony of their own.

  That's nice.

  I kept checking the map as we went, and wasn't excited about following the road going down and around the stone hills. Strangely, a wolf running at us from a break in the rocks led us to a cut that looked like it went over!

  We checked it out, and saw that it was actually a shortcut! Thanks, Wolf!

  So, we cut across the flat hilltop, and soon found the road again. We also came across a tall pillar surrounded by smaller stones jutting out of the plain. Lydia said it was Gjukar's Monument.

  It was really impressive!

  Just past that was a crumbling section of what looked like the wall of a fort, along with a shrine to Zenithar in it. I figured it couldn't hurt, so I gave that Divine's blessings a try. I hear you can get better prices with this one!

  We kept going, and I noticed that the area looked familiar. Lydia pointed out that Swindler's Den wasn't far off. She was right, and then I remembered the other thing we'd seen around there. Soon enough, we found them.

  Mammoths!

  We didn't see any giants right away, but we stuck to the rocky outcrops and ledges that stick out of the plain in case any walked by.

  We managed to avoid angering the mammoths - they were thankfully occupied by wolves - and we found an area with some standing stones. I was curious, so we went over and found one of those spinning stone pillar puzzles! There was a large grate in the ground nearby, with a chest under it, and a handle set in a pedestal to open it.

  We were so busy looking for the stone face keys, we didn't see the PAIR of giants (yes, two) until they were almost on top of us! They waved their clubs at us and we scattered towards the road.

  I'm glad they just want to be left alone. I'd hate to fight one of them!

  We'll be back for that chest later.

  Not far along the road, a fort came into view. Lydia groaned and told us to get our weapons ready, just in case. Fort Greymoor was notorious for being a bandit hideout. It used to be occupied by Whiterun, but the war left their defenses too thin for Jarl Balgruuf to take it back.

  We saw a bandit jump out of some trees just ahead of us and attack a pair of travelers! Unfortunately, we didn't get there in time to save them, but we took care of him so he can't do it again.

  The fight alerted the bandits in the fort, and they rushed out at us.

  There were only four of them patrolling the outside walls, so they weren't too much trouble. As much as I wanted to go inside and clear out the rest, I wanted to get back here before nightfall. So, we took what we could carry from the ones we killed and got back on the road.

  I gestured to where I had first fought a dragon as we passed the Western Watchtower, and told a bit about what happened.

  If only I'd known then what that fight would mean for me.

  We were soon through the city gates, just too late to get to any of the shops, so we'll do that tomorrow. For now, we're relaxing after dinner.

  It was a good day, if a bit busy. Tomorrow I'll do some trading, and see about adding rooms for the children!