No.29- In Service of God and King

After infiltrating the Thalmore Embassy tea party, Lydia and I fast traveled to Riverwood to give the news to Delphine (The Blade) relating to documents I found revealing the Thalmor are not behind Skyrim Dragons, but were frantically looking for someone named Esbern. Delphine knew him as a member of the Blades hiding out in Riften. What did he know? Unknown, but we needed to find him before the Thalmor did! However, I had promised a God, Meridia, I would guide her beacon, while cleansing the Temple of Kilkreath of undead, dark spirits and the mage called Malkoran and it's not good to keep a God waiting...

Shrine of Meridia

We fast traveled to Meridia's Shrine, the tall angel-like statue that sits on a hill NW of Solitude. (Fast travel is so convenient when you are pressed for time.) The shrine sits on top of the Temple. We ran around and down to the entrance. The temple started out with sporadic encounters, nothing too hard until the end. The beacon I had previously set at the base of the statue shined a beam of light into the Temple. Inside there were multiple reflectors to guide the beam, but they all had to be adjusted. This is what I did while fighting off undead.

Guiding the Beacon

 On the way, I learned a couple of things about Lydia. First of all she is not very observant. A string was stretched across the walkway. I gingerly stepped over it, and due to the mechanics of the game I was not allowed to say, "hey look out!" She tripped the wire walking right into swinging blades. Ouch! Fortunately she is one tough lady and survived, as always. Secondly I let her hold The Staff of Magnus (that I had previously acquired) and found she was quite handy with it!

Malkoran @ UESP.net

In the final chamber we met Malkoran, the mage responsible for defiling the temple. This was a difficult fight, really undermining any superior feelings I might of had being the Arch Mage and all that goes with it. I hate being the victim one shot kills and this bad boy mage was able to reach out and fatally touch me, and did. Thank goodness for "redos"! The fight involved a lot of running around frantically avoiding his line of fire, while I slowly eliminated all of his dark spirit helpers.

Dark Spirits

 I lost track of Lydia, who when beaten down, usually collapses but survives. The outcome looked bleak, until I remembered a Frost Atronach scroll I was carrying in my Skyrim backpack. Crossing my fingers I invoked the scroll and the big eight foot tall blue hunk of ice came to life and immediately set to kicking the crap out of the unfortunate mage. All that was left for me to do was finish him off.

Me In My Ugly Mask With A New Best Friend

 After this fight, learning how to create a Frost Atronach was placed at the top of my list of professional skills to obtain. Scrolls are good for only one conjure. I needed to learn the spell so I could repeated rely on this animated ice cube assistant.

Korvanjund Assault Team

 My next date was with Legate Rikke and the Legionaries to secure The Jagged Crown before the Stormcloaks could get their hands on it in Korvanjund. I wish I could say "Tell me again?", because the importance of this crown has eluded me other than the Empire does not want Ulfric, leader of the Stormcloaks to have it for it's symbolic importance, whatever that might be. Korvanjund sits half way between Whiterun and Winterhold in the middle of a beautiful pine forest, this time of the year, frosted by Winter. Large majestic mountains frame the setting with mists blowing off their saw tooth peaks. Yes, beautiful on the outside, dark and dangerous on the inside.

Imperials vs Stormcloaks

Instead of the standard round hole in the ground, Korvanjund has a more complex approach made more complicated by the Stormcloak rebels who were guarding it. The going was relatively easy though as this was the largest posse I've  grouped with adventuring in Skyrim. Rikke, her band of Imperial Soldiers, myself, Lydia, and Sparky proceeded through various rooms fighting small groups of Stormcloaks, then through Korvanjund Halls, where we were jumped by a pack of Draugrs. That was really no problem.

Non-Cooperative Death Lord

The Jagged Crown @UESP.net

 It was in the Korvanjun Crypt that we cam across a lifeless Draugr Deathlord wearing the Jagged Crown in question. For the life of me I did not see what was so important, as it resembled the jaw of a strange creature full of teeth. The encounter took on a new dimension when the Deathlord and two Draugr Scourges came to life and had the nerve not to hand it over! A melee ensued, but with so many Imperial Soldiers and the Iron Maiden Rikke, we prevailed. I was given the crown to take back to General Tullius, head Imperial Officer in Solitude. After all of this, I've heard I could take this crown to Ulfric if I wanted to join the Stormcloaks , hey hey... naw, I've made my decision!