No.18- Solitude, An Imperial City

Lydia- Looks Can Be Deceiving

Stomping out of Ustengrav, I wanted badly to zip over to Riverwood, however I was determined to save Thorald Gray-Mane because I promised his brother, had delayed too long, and this was part of the reason for my tour of Northern Skyrim. For all I know the Gray-Manes and Battle-Borns were attacking each other in the streets of Whiterun by now. Thorald was supposed to be held in a location about as far west as you can go in Skyrim, Northwatch Keep and to make it real interesting, it's controlled by the Thalmor. Along the way, we could discover what kind of a city Solitude, an Imperial stronghold would be.

Solitude

There was rough terrain between Usengrav and Solitude, but the trip was uneventful. In the distance, the city standing out on a huge rock arch outcropping appeared impregnable on the East End. There was water between us and the City and instead of wasting most of the day circling around, we elected to swim. Walking up the hill to the main gate, I was informed by a guard I was just in time to see Roggvir.

"Why would I want to see him?" I queried.

"He's being executed today" was the reply.

For Helping The King Killer

Inside we walked right into the execution with a crowd standing around waiting for the criminal to face justice. He had something to do with the killing of King Torygg by Ulfric Stormcloak, head of the Stormcloak Rebellion. In hindsight I made an incredibly stupid move. I don't know what the exact trigger was, but I approached the head guard, he pulled his weapon and just about killed me. I knew if I fought back, I'd never be able to set foot in Solitude again so instead, mortally wounded, I used my "time" spell to rewind time to the point just before we passed through the main gate.

This time I stood quietly, listened to Roggvir make an appeal, but no matter, the ax fell and Roggvir's head rolled around on the ground before it stopped with his sightless eyes looking up at the blue sky. I was going to have to watch my step around here.

Legat Rikke- Need an Arse Whoop'n? @UESP.net

I found the Legion headquarters in the Castle. General Tullius and Legate Rikke, Tullius's Lieutenant were discussing strategy for the region. They were not impressed that I could just walk into their conversation. I informed them I was present at Helgen and actually got an apology out of the good General. I don't know what got into me, maybe dealing with pompous, too big for their britches Jarls, but I decide to apply to the Legion. At the same time I wondered how the long range effect of this decision would impede my ability to come and go in Whiterun and the Companions guild? Before acceptance they wanted me to clear out an old Fort. Good, that gave me some time to think on this. Most interesting I discovered from Rikke, the abandoned forts scattered around Skyrim are not Imperial forts but old forts built by the "Ancients" whoever they were.

Before leaving the Castle, I discovered the Thalmor headquarters in Skyrim. Damn. I entered, but no one was home, so I snooped around to see if I could find any revelations. Nope.

Blue Palace, Solitude @ElderScrolls.Wikia.com

I stopped into a garment shop, The Radient Raiment, and met a couple of very rude sisters. When I let it slip I was headed for the Blue Palace, to meet the Queen, they offered to let me keep an expensive dress if I wore it to meet her. Sure why not, although it did not make the sisters any friendlier and the dress made me feel matronly, not a good feeling, not that my necromancer robe is anything to shout about. My long range goal is to enchant some spiffy, light but fashionable armor.

The Queen of Skyrim

I managed to gain an audience with Queen Elisif (widow of King Torygg), spoke with her regent and the Court Mage, and picked up a quest to clean out a possibly Vampire infested Cave. Now what if I became both a Werewolf and a Vampire?? Naw, I like having the Sun warm my face. Just too prove I enjoy being a glutton, I applied to the Bard's College so I could learn to play guitar.  And finally I found a blacksmith with substantial gold who was willing to buy a lot of my loot, hurrah, a load off Lydia! In this first day in Solitude, I talked more than anytime in the last 2 months and was exhausted. Lydia and I retired for the evening to the Winking Skeever Inn. Lisette, the local bard sung a very nice rendition of "We'll drink to Ulric's Death". He's the one who killed the King.

Winking Skeever Inn

No.17- Surprise in Ustengrav (Dragon 5)

Skyrim Adventures Abound!

I let Aela carry the news to the Companions about Skjor's untimely death, such is life in Skyrim. Lydia and I fast traveled back to Dawnstar. No sooner than we arrived, I noticed soldiers running about with their bows drawn. A shadow passed overhead and you can guess, it was large flying, fire breathing critter! Are dragons stalking me? It seemed to die rather quickly as the townsfolks and team Lil-Lydia took it down.

Every vendor I ask about "dragon killing" weapons, they all make fun of the question. But I've been doing ok with the meager weapons I've got. Maybe I've not yet run into one of the bad-ass dragons?

Uneasy Feeling

Die Already!

After the commotion calmed and gawkers thinned out, I checked my notes. Next major destination would be Ustengrav, to grab the Greybeard's Horn after checking out the village of Morthal, and a night of rest. Lydia and I headed out. This time I had no illusions, Morthal was going to be another hole in the wall fishing village. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against small towns. It's just that I've been using Lydia as a pack mule (using a game loophole) and consequently I just can't give her stuff to carry for me. I have to drop it on the ground and make her pick it up. She must have the largest invisible loot bag conceived, but thankfully it does not slow her down one bit, nor adversely affect her appearance which is lovely. But I digress, the point here is I need to find another armor vendor with abundant $$ willing to buy my loot. The odds of finding one at Morthal were slim.

Hjaalmarch Region

Per the norm, we were accosted by bandits half way to Morthal. I tried this stupid flame cloak and maybe I accidentally hit Lydia in the head with my hatchet. After being burned and whacked, my good friend turned hostile on me! I could not tell her (no dialog options) it was an accident! Oh the pain! She would not attack me, but I could not interact with her either. I tried waiting her out hoping she would reconsider, but she leveled epitaphs my way saying I did not belong in Skyrim. I could bear no more! I made a brief note in my planner to locate a "no friendly fire" mod, then whipped out a special "time" spell, (something like the Galaxy Quest Omega 13 device), which I used to push us back, before the bandit encounter. This is not the first time I've been plagued with this friendly-fire problem.

 

Morthal

 As we traveled west, the weather moderated, the snow lessoning. This was a more temperate part of Skyrim. Turning a corner, we descended from higher ground into the somewhat peaceful community of Morthal (lovely name) where we bumped into a discussion, about a haunted burned down house. I have bigger fish to fry so I blew that off for now. I went in and met the Jarl of Morthal. They all seem to slouch in that "I'm superior" mode. She really had nothing to say to me as Dragonborn.

So for Morthal, no armor vendor, but I did find an alchemy vendor. Most towns seem to have one. Spent the night at the Moorside Inn, then got an early start for Ustengrav, location of the Greybeard's Horn.

Ustengrav- Not All Holes Are A Like

Again, my map was not well marked and we ended up leaving the road and heading North West over rocky terrain to Ustengrav, another circular hole in the ground. We made quick work of a several bandits and a mage who were camping out nearby.  Note, they attacked us first. I should no longer have to clarify, bandits are bad and attacks us.

Big Damn Spider

Toasted!

Into the hole we went! Along the way we got to fight a big ass spider in a room with nasty floor (flame spout) jets. I got the big dumb oaf to follow me into the fiery part and another toasted spider! Lydia was salivating over the prospect toasted spider legs... Alright, I let her indulge.

Unstengrav Grotto, Waterfall, Word Wall

Besides the spider, Usengrav was a cool dungeon literally and figuratively, very vertical, with a large under-ground grotto and a pretty waterfall.   Best yet a Word Wall which taught "Fade". Before we left the grotto, I said, "naw", but doffed my clothes, braving the icy water, wading into the waterfall to discover... a secret chamber! Intuition, baby! There was a chest and some gold, ehh. Returning to the pool, I was splashed by Lydia, in the buff, that minx! This was my Lydia, as I tried to forget the hatchet to the head incident. We proceeded to act silly and splash each other until unable to stand it any longer, stumbled out shivering. I gathered some twigs and used a flame spell to start a fire.

Where's The Prize?

After dressing and regrouping, we progressed to the final chamber where I was anticipating the usual big fight. Up on the alter was this beautiful horn! No wait, that's what I was anticipating. There was no fight and no horn! Instead there was a note with a scribbled message laying on the alter, "meet me in Riverwood!"
"By the Gods!" I swore crumpling the note and stuffing it in my pocket. That was the surprise.
"Riverwood, that's a long damn way" Lydia quipped.
"That's what fast travel is for baby!" I replied, giving her a friendly pat.

No.16- Furry Time

I Got Furry

On my latest loot run to Whiterun, we ended up arriving at night. My Silver Hand Quest curiosity got the better of me and I decided to meet Skjor for his secret meeting. It was outback of Jorrvaskr, the Companion's Guild house in Whiterun through a secret door inside a rock outcropping. I explained to Lydia and left her outside. I was happy she seemed ok with it.

Werewolf Ceremony

I know the Companions turn into werewolves, but it was still shocking when I walked into a grotto and there was Aelas The Huntress in beast form. Some call it a curse. Skjor and the Companions call it a blessing for combat, making you big, strong, ugly, and prone to flees. Well, you have to take the good with the bad.

The way you catch lycanthropy is by getting bit or by drinking werewolf blood. I agreed to the latter. Skjor cut Aelas's wrist and filled a bowl with her blood. I took a sip and in a flash I was out behind Jorrvaskr, large, furry, impressive  fangs, generally hideous, but it seemed natural and I had enough control to know who to attack or not. Lydia was there and to her credit, was not afraid. Then darkness and dark dreams of rushing through the woods, ambushing a deer, ripping it up and tasting warm flesh and the iron taste of blood, the nectar of life and all that.

Hungover In The Woods

When my senses cleared, I was standing naked (human form) in the woods facing Aelas with a torch asking me if I had fun. She had helped me clean up and get into a bra and panties. Curious I felt naked. I must of had fun, because I think we were about 20 miles to the East of Whiterun, but before I could blurt an adequate answer, she was talking about killing Silver Hands, led by Krev the Skinner.  The SHits as I like to now call them (get it? SilverHand-its) are among the Lycanthropist's worst enemies with a hideout over at Gallows Rock. They tried to kill me the first I met them and significantly, before I had a proclivity towards fur. She said Skjor was all ready over there so we needed to hustle.

Put Your Clothes On- Make Me!

This is not made up. I fought my first post-werewolf fight, bare fisted, in my underwear. Despite having the potential of being a big bad wolf, it must of looked real funny, me tippy toeing though the woods half clothed. And Aelas was of no help at all, no briefings what so ever as what to expect with my new beast form abilities, not even a "put your clothes on, fool".

I'll tell you, using my human fists against armed and armored adversaries is not effective. I did have the element of surprise and they all most fell over when a growling, half naked, snarling, but attractive woman came rushing at them. I saw a look on one of their faces of fight or fun? But after I dropped him with my fist, I yelled "vua-la!" or "furry!", something like that, expecting to transform into a snarling beast, but nothing happened, except now they looked at me like I was crazy. My beast form was not working! I think Aelas was giggling the entire time behind my back. In hindsight, something about a 24 hour cooling off period. After getting cut a number of times, I finally figured out half-nakedness would only carry me so far. I was going to have to resort to traditional methods of magic and steel. After Aelas took care of the two Gallow Rock sentries, I grabbed her shoulder and whined "Where's my gear?"
"Right here, in the Skyrim napsack you always carry. Did you forget?" she replied.
"Thanks for allowing me to make a fool of myself" I huffed, pulling the bag open. I hastily donned my clothing and equipped my weapons both physical and magical. I am a mage, but I have a current favorite soul-stealing hatchet.

Now that I was properly equipped, into Gallows Rock we proceeded, slashing, hacking, and zapping our adversaries. We saw the remains of several dead wolves and I must have bonded because I felt rage at their slaughter.  Finally we entered a large round room where Krev was curing, I assume, a werewolf skin. Bastard! He had 3 archers for support and remembering that it's best to take out the helpers first, I circled the room eliminating them. Krev put up a good fight, but not good enough. Then we discovered Skjor was dead. I vowed to slay Silver Hands across Skyrim. Wiping my hands of this filth, we departed for Whiterun to give the sad news to our Companion brethren.

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!

No.14- Worship in Skyrim

I walked into Dawnstar (partially the subject of my next post) and heard more grumbling about the Empire from the Jarl of Dawnstar. If you read my Skyrim, A Brief History post, I'd like to clarify something about the political/religious situation in Skyrim. If there are any blatant errors, please give me a shout. Thanks!

The major Skyrim religions: 
1. Nine Divines 
If you played Elderscrolls 4: Oblivion, you may remember the  Nine Divines are the most important religious order in Cyrodiil.  There are 6 gods and 3 goddesses. When you think Empire, think Nine Divines.

1a. Talos
Tiber Septim, a human-hero who ascended to god status, the ninth of the Nine Divines. So if you here someone talking about Talos, they are talking about part of the Nine Divines.

2. Nordic Pantheon
Think Nordic Gods like ancient Greek Gods. See Pantheons in the link.

3. Daedra
From Oblivion, you'll remember the Daedra as mostly nasty things that popped out of Oblivion Gates in Cryodiil. Well there are Daedra Gods/Princes who control the nastiness. In StarWars jargon, think Sith...

If the Stormcloaks are fighting for Talos worship, wouldn't you think it odd that the Empire, mostly devote Nine Divine worshipers, who consider Talos, aka Tiber Septim, the hero of all mankind would allow the Thalmor to hunt down Talos worshippers in Skyrim?? Well as mentioned before, this condition was part of a truce with the Thalmor as hypocritical as it sounds. Personally it boggles my mind.

* Check this post for reference:
* Here is an interesting essay on why you should become an Imperial.

No.13- West to Iron Blind Barrow (Dragon 4)

A Stellar Moon (click images)

We popped out of Forsaken Cave into the chill of a frozen Skyrim night. At least there was no precip falling. It was refreshing as compared to the humid claustrophobic nature of this hole in the ground.  The large full moon was illuminating blankets of snow across the landscape, the trees, and the distant mountains, a veritable nocturnal Winter wonderland. For survival, if you don't freeze, you'd never have to worry about starving as there are Snow Berries in abundance which are sweet and tart just, like a candy I remember as a kid, but these are good for you and make a very good wine. We took a leisurely stroll West along the road and bumped into one bandit, easily dispatched.

Then later just outside of the Night Gate Inn, we bumped into a pair of travelers calling themselves the Vigilant of Stendarr, a order of holy warriors dedicated to eradicating Daedra and any other abominations, such as vampires, werewolves and witches  they find on behalf of  Stendarr the God of Mercy. Besides being placed in a awkward position when it comes to knowledge of man-size fanged and furry abominations (which I kept to myself, receiving a thumbs up from Lydia), it was a pleasant change of pace running into fellow travelers who were not intent on killing and robbing us.

One Room- 10 Gold

NightGate Inn (The Next Morning)

Uggy @ElderScrolls.Wiki

We settled down for the evening at the Inn, deciding to run the Iron Blind Barrow tomorrow and get Uggy's (director of the Mage College's Arcanaeum) book. It's just a bit up the road on the opposite side so we could hit it early after a hot breakfast. Did I mention Urag (Uggy) is an Orc, a real live intellectual Orc, can you imagine?

Warlord Gathrik (my flames not his)

The next morning, I picked up a bounty notice before, we ran through this interesting dungeon with elevated passageways, fighting Warlord Gathrik at the end. I found the desired book, a nice Armor of Alteration and the icing on the cake was a Word Wall for Becoming Ethereal! I've had extremely good luck finding Word Walls I tell you.

Many of the dungeons are designed so at the end there is a convenient exit, but I could not get this door open so we retraced out steps to the entrance. I'll reemphasize, Cryodiil has Skyrim beat for nice temperate weather, but Skyrim dungeons are better. In Cryodiil they were mostly brown and gray with more grey. Skyrim's have great features, colors and lighting.

Once outside, we made the standard loot run to Whiterun and Winterhold. I admit that I usually do fast travel between these locations. I just don't have the patience.

At the College, Arcano, the Thalmor advisor kept to himself as I churned some items through the alchemy table and disenchanted a few items, but I don't feel like I'm making substantial progress in these areas. One of the problems with Alchemy is that instead of seeing a list of what you have discovered for Alchemy effects, all you see are the effects for the items you have in inventory. Unless you've been keeping good notes, which I have not, then it requires an external Skyrim source to know what you need to collect for a desired potion. I'll work on this.

The quests are piling up and I have prioritized what I should do:
1. The Star of Magnus- search for, in an attempt to better understand the large globe discovered in the ruins near the College and now moved to the College's Central Hall.
2. Azura's Star- A quest from a Daedric Priestess at the Shrine of Azura to locate this Daedric artifact, a super soul gem. The quest was complicated when in Winterhold, I found a mage named Nelacar who told me a story about Azura's Star, that it drove a mage at the college crazy and for research purposes, he (the mage in question, not Nelacar) ended up killing a student. He was banished and was last seen headed for Illinalta's Deep with the item. Nelacar told me if I get my hands on it, whatever I do, don't give this artifact to the Priestess.
3. The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller- the final stage of the Dragonborn/Greybeard trial to become a full fledged Dragonborn and owner of The Voice.
4. The Silver Hand- a mysterious meeting planned at night in a crypt on behalf of the Companions. There is something furry about this.
5. Then there is a variety of sub-quests including joining the StormCloaks which I have specifically been avoiding and other challenges of a minor nature, but very important to those involved like saving Thorald Gray-Mane to keep a Whiterun feud manageable.

However, from my past experience questing in ElderScrolls settings, I don't necessarily need to rush through the main quest. I'm thinking that upping my skills in enchanting and my Dragon Voice are most important which would make finding Azura's Star and the Horn the top priorities with a side trip to save Thorald Gray-Mane, then followed by seaking the Staff of Magnus. If you don't know from past experience, according to every quest giver the task needs to have been completed yesterday, but in the ElderScrolls settings, quests are not perishable and wait until you are ready to tackle them.

Dragons are  becoming a real nuisance in Skyrim!  Preparing to depart the College, we were greeted by a dragon in the College courtyard, which we killed! What really irritated afterwards is that despite traffic through this area, I heard not one comment as in "good job"! These academics just ignored a large dragon skeleton laying at the entrance to the College!

Dragon No.4- BBQ anyone?

No.12- All Dungeons are Worth Exploring! (Dragon 3)

Frost Atronach (click images) @ ElderScrolls.wiki

Coming off the mountain range where Azura is located, we descended above Fort Kastav, a small, officially abandoned prison fortification, but inhabited by hostile frost mages. The fight involving a Frost Atronach was tougher than I was used to. The hostile mages countered my flame with their frost (imagine a low budget Voldemort- Dumbledore magic fight, except fire against frost) and did not wither the way mobs usually do. Again my Fire Atronach and Lydia gave me added punch.

Fort Kastav Interior

Afterwards we checked out the dungeons (prisoner cells) and found nothing of particular interest, but my ability to ferret out significant finds can be spotty.

Travels

Companion Guild

On a storage run back to the Whiterun Companions Guild, I got annoyed with all the snide comments made by envious members about Guild elders letting me join. A conference with Lydia decided that if I any wanted respect around here, I was going to have to complete another of the Companions quests to emphasise my worth. I was assigned to kill an escaped convict who was rumored to be a far piece off in the vicinity of Windhelm. Our info was good and we found him to the SE of Windhelm. For a long trip, it was a short boring encounter, (flames and a whack to the noggin).

Windhelm on a Good Day

On the way back to Whiterun, we stopped in Windhelm but it was early in the morning. I could not find much in the way of shops for dumping loot, not that I expected them to be open at 6am. The Candlehearth Inn was open. There I managed to get into a wagered brawl with a big mouth anti-dark elf bigot and picked up 100 gold. It's true that the Thalmor are Elf supremacists, but that is no reason to brand all elves as bad, is it?

Candlehearth Hall

Candlehearth Hall Bar

When I got back to the Companions in Whitefun, Skjor invited me to meet him in a secret crypt that night for a special ritual. Hopeful this was official Guild business and not personal, if you know what I mean. However, I postponed that meeting, until I could finish our initial tour of the North, I started several entries ago.

Dragon Overhead Forsaken Cave (outside)

First a fast travel to Ft. Kastav, then we hoofed it West and discovered Forsaken Cave. They say there is no such thing as a bad dungeon, but before we could enter, TWO dragons showed up! At least one was a frost breather. In a tense fight with me weaving and bobbing behind obstacles, one of the dragons was downed, but I'm not sure what happened to the other one. I assume it split.

Icy wonders and Gems Aplenty in Forsaken Cave

Forsaken Cave (Routine) Action

Inside the Forsaken Cave parts of it were very icy and beautiful, and practically every urn in the place contained precious jewels accompanied by the normal parade of not-beautiful Draugrs. At the end of the Forsaken Cave was the Forsaken Crypt with an undead boss who popped out of a crypt, but was not too hard to defeat. The pleasant surprise was the Word Wall at the end. I realized later there was a quest in this cave, but I did not have it. I'll have to come back, but hopefully most of the clearing work has been accomplished.