No.15- A Long Trip to Meet a Pompous Ass & Pretty Lass

Winter Wonderland

We fast-traveled to the NightGate Inn and from there, took the road West and a quick peak into Silverdrift Liar. Things have been such a blur. My notes indicate we've cleared this all ready and I got the Dragon Word: Disarm. I've been doing too many midnight dungeon runs.

Don't Kill the Reveler!

Soon after, we met a Reveler and his party on the road who was friendly and kind enough to share a drink of Honey Mead with us. One caution about meeting strangers. After you've been attacked a dozen times, it's easy to get into preemptive mode with a sneak attack on anyone you meet. Unless your inherently evil, don't do it. They could be an innocent traveler!

Ft Dunstad

Ft Fellhammer Head Shot

The road turned North going right through the middle of Fort Dunstad, followed by another abandoned prison called Fort Fellhammer, both inhabited by bandits. Why all the abandoned forts? If these are Imperial forts, I guess it is a reflection of the sad state of the Empire.

Caution About Petting Khajiit

Finally we were coming to a town! With Dawnstar, on the horizon I got excited. We found Windward Ruin which was interesting, but we did not dally there. Just outside of Dawnstar was a camp setup by Khajiit merchants. I resisted the urge to pet one of them and volunteered to recover a stolen pendant from some bandit, but that will be later. And I purchased some speech training in preparation for my Whiterun Toast Masters engagement.

Lovely Bar Maid Karita

Seeking out the local pub for a well deserved brew, thinking it was time to relax, we entered the Windpeak Inn and overheard customers complaining about chronic, repetitive, bad dreams. More importantly, there was a shapely and attractive (a plus) barmaid, named Karita serenading the guests. I usually don't get emotional in bars, but I had to stifle a sniffle when she sang Dragonborn, How You Turn Me On. As Lydia comforted me, I'm ashamed to admit it, my mind briefly occupied itself mentally undressing the lovely Karita, imagining her singing between the sheets.

After recomposing myself, I spoke to the Priest named Erandur. He had the solution to the group nightmare problem, but was being a bit evasive. I'm not going to bore you with a lot of background, just read about, Vaermina's curse if you want to. To summarize it was a Daedric artifcat (Skull of Corruption) in this Temple causing the nightmares. There are also Orcs and Mages in there in an unnatural slumber. I guessed that they would wake up at some inopportune time, (later confirmed).  With my help he assured me, we could take care of this quickly and everyone would be grateful. Right...

Toasted is Best!

After my guffaws eased slightly, I allowed myself to get roped into this "quick" quest and we set out up the hill to the Nightcaller Temple, an imposing structure I had seen well before arriving at Dawnstar. A pack of large frost spiders were using the front steps as loungers, but they rousted themselves for what they had hoped to be a red blooded meal. Not so fast you eight legged freaks! We fried them goo, I mean good. Erandur offered to cook up a spider fricassee, but slightly gagging, I declined. He said spider meat tastes like chicken. "Lets stay focused" I suggested.

Bad Bad Dream

With a peck on the cheek, I left Lydia at the door as Erandur and I entered the decay of an abandoned sanctuary. Helping Erandur involved drinking a potion that put me into a dream state so I could bypass a barrier and once it was down, we had to deal with Orcs and deranged Mages who were waking up from the artificial sleep that preserved them.

Angry Mage Combat

Most interesting, at the end, just as Erandur was about to destroy the Skull of Corruption, a voice inside my head, I presume to be Vaermina's told me not to trust him, to kill him before he could destroy the skull, so I could possess it and use it as a weapon. I weighed my options and decided to trust Erandur.

Turned out, I think I did the right thing. We stumbled out of the Temple greeted by a glorious sunrise and bless her heart, Lydia was there waiting by her camp fire, gnawing on a spider leg. I gulped and gave her a squeeze. "What?" she asked, "it tastes like chicken." Back in town, evil skull destroyed, bad dreams gone, the glorious Sunrise, and no one knew, or acted like they knew they had a new hero among them. Disappointing, except maybe Karita knew...

Welcome to Deadsville

I was still jazzed and had the energy to walk about town with Lydia to be greeted by more Imperial-Stormcloak friction. I listened to a pretty reasonably sounding retired Imperial and the local head anti-Imperial, Jarl Skald. It hurt when he could care less that I delivered a package to him and did not seem interested in recieving any Dragonborn help. Besides this town was Deadsville, just a small fishing village. The only place in town to hang out appears to be the Pub where you could drink away the miserable winter if so inclined.

Dawnstar Head Pompous Ass & Body Guard

Man I am lugging around too much crap I need to unload! I saw no armorer, although there was  a mage shop in a side room of the Inn. What is really infuriating is when I finally meet someone who will buy my loot, but they only have 99 gold on them!

We took a quick nap, showered in the hot springs "sprinkle" out back, came down for some dinner, drinks and had a few laughs with Karita. I headed up to our room for the evening. Reclined on the bed, reading my Vacationer's Guide to Skyrim, the door creaked open. Looking up it was Lydia. "We have company" she said, smiling while behind her stood a shy Karita. Right there and then my heart soared for the best Housecarl ever! And I just happened to have an unopened bottle of honeymead wine chilled and ready for consumption!