Dragon Lairs and Dwemer Ruins

After leaving Darkwater Crossing, I was unable to find the falls where Derkeethus disappeared. In my search, I ended up further down the path to Riften than expected, so I decided to just continue travelling. I did find time to consult a map, however, and realized that the reason the miners are requesting aid from Windhelm is that Darkwater is, in fact, in southern Eastmarch!

The remaining road to Riften was very eventful. Over the rise of some of the hills, I saw a dragon attacking a mammoth. After some battle, I killed the dragon with the help of the giants nearby, who were none-too-pleased that the dragon had been eating their livestock.

I realized at this point that there was a dragon lair close by and went up to receive the first word of Frost Breath, Fo, from Bonestrewn Crest.

I also discovered the burial mound the dragon had been raised from, empty of its dragon, of course. It was nice to find all of the signs of dragon life near one another-- lair, feeding ground, burial mound. It was very pat and neat. Additionally, there were some iron ore veins nearby.

I continued south and eventually found that the road diverged to the ruins of Mzulft. I didn't enter the main part, but looked around the storeroom, where I found numerous materials for melting into ore (I did not take them, due to weight constrictions) and a glowing shard, which launched a side quest to identify it. I was intending to go to Markarth to do so, but realized that I had just looted a book, The Aetherium Wars, from the body of an adventurer outside, and it helped me identify the shard as an Aetherium Shard. It looks like a quarter of the whole, and the next should be in Arkngthamz, near (yes) Markarth.

The glowing shard. I love the Dwemer.

Very shortly after leaving the ruins, I was set on by hired thugs, who Hroggar from Morthal had apparently hired to kill me, for stealing from his home (with the Jarl's permisison, I might add) in my attempt to bring his vampire girlfriend to justice. Also, didn't I kill him?

Regardless, I killed the thugs, took the contract so I would know who to bother when I returned to Morthal, and continued ever-southward. I detoured off the path again to Northwind Mine, an iron mine with few deposits, but it proved a shortcut to Northwind Summit, a dragon lair. After having to do a quick cheat to make Lydia actually traverse the cave, since she chose not to accompany for reasons unknown, she engaged the dragon at close combat while I provided a steady stream of flames. Soon, the dragon was dead, I had the first word of the Aura Whisper shout, Laas, and a nearby chest revealed Meridia's Beacon.

Ah, will Daedric quests ever stop following me? Lookin' at you, Barbas. Go away.

Meridia, however, is one of my favorite of the Daedric Princes. She is... uncompromising, unflinching power. She doesn't see shades of gray, which makes sense, as she is only light. If I reunite her beacon to her shrine, the weapon she gives is glorious-- Dawnbreaker, a sword that brings hell to the undead.

Meridia must not realize that I'm a vampire as well. I have to get rid of it-- it really is a curse, and severely cripples my combat skills. I had to use numerous magicka potions with the dragon, and nearly died, since my magic didn't regenerate during the daytime. There are no noticeable perks, either, since the powers it gives are pitiful.

I was nearing Riften after this, thank the gods, and the pathway ran through Shor's Watch, where the watchmen had been killed by Imperial soldiers, and Shor's Stone, which is a mining community situated over Redbelly Mine. Annekke and Verner's daughter, Sylgja, lives here, where she works the mine and apparently brings other miners their food. I have no doubt that Annekke is less than pleased with her daughter's backseat role, but Sylgja can't be more than eighteen, considering how young her mother is. She asked me to bring her parents some letters, since she had been injured recently, and though a Priest of Mara had healed her before heading to Dawnstar, she still feels poorly.

I had intended to just do a quick run into the mine to see what was in there, but was surprised to find myself attacked by Frostbite Spiders! I killed them all, and looked around town to see if anyone knew this, and was rewarded with almost a thousand gold coins when one of the miners realized what I had done.

I continued on, and eventually reached the gates of Riften.

Darkwater Crossing

Ella, vampire eyes a-glowing away. I don't much like being a vampire, though.

I decided to leave Whiterun and head to Riften to scout out the housing situation. The hope is that with Riften being in a swampier area, the flora and fauna around there will be more appealing than the endless sea of tundra cotton and mountain flowers on the plains. (Of course, if one wanted to take on giants and mammoths, the plains would be the place to live, but alas, I don't feel that Whiterun is the place for me.)

After a brief debate on whether to take the cart to Riften, I made my way on horseback with Lydia, Barbas still tagging along. This would later prove a problem.

Bandits are so stupid.

We discovered Frostbite Spiders along the rivers, and several packs of wolves, as well as one bandit group made up entirely of chiefs-- I assume they were at a meeting to decide who attacks which travelers? I nearly ran over them before they finally stopped talking about skooma and started attacking me.

I decided to stop for the night in Darkwater Crossing. Annekke Crag-Jumper had a quest for me, so I went to Knife Point Ridge to take care of a very large group of bandits. This was made difficult by Barbas' incessant barking and constant, endless pushing, nearly causing me to tumble into ravines more than once. I can only assume he's mad that I've left Clavicus Vile's quest, though since he's no longer speaking for some reason, who knows. I then detoured to Fort Amol for a... snack.... The Fort, which had been run by Stormcloak guards, was taken over by mages. I didn't clear the Fort, so I'll have to go back later to take a closer look. Tomorrow, I'll see if I can find Derkeethus, an Argonian who's gone missing from Darkwater, and maybe take another swing at Fort Amol before heading south to Riften. I've also agreed to eventually take a note to the White Phial in Winterhold for more medicine-- the mine is apparently nearing its end, and making the miners sick. No wonder Annekke wants to go journeying with me, much to her husbands dismay! As a note, why do I need to go all the way to Winterhold? Isn't Riften, or Whiterun, closer? Though the White Phial is a very pre-eminent alchemy shop. Do others lack the skill? Or the ingredients? Or is there some political reason?

Knifepoint Ridge: the prettiest bandit settlement ever, and so large, with a pit and a captive sabertooth cat, presumably so they can have some torture entertainment. Excuse me. Could have had, since I killed everyone.

Clavicus Vile's Dog and The Ring of Hircine

I found and followed Barbas, the dog outside of Falkreath. He, of course, belongs to the Daedric Prince of Wishes, Clavicus Vile. He lead me to one of his master's shrines, where his master is stuck in a statue. Clavicus Vile ordered me to retrieve an axe for him since it would prove... ominous ellipsis... interesting. I assume that he likely wants me to kill someone with this axe, so I believe I will put the quest on the back burner for now. Daedric quests aren't usually my cup of tea, though if any of them happened to send me to strange areas, with unique flora and fauna.... Regardless, this means I now have Barbas as a companion until I finish the quest.

Interestingly enough, the next thing I did was manage to get involved in another Daedric quest, also based out of Falkreath. The man in the Falkreath jail, Sinding, was jailed for savagely killing a little girl, evidence he is out of control of his lycanthropy. As a vampire, the ring didn't affect me, so I took it from him and sought out Hircine, who he had managed to anger by spurning Hircine's gift and not reveling in the hunt instead of wishing to suppress the urge.

Hircine, being angry as he was, sent numerous hunters after Sinding. I followed them and, with Sinding, killed the hunters. Hircine was actually pleased, since he thought this best depicted the savagery of the hunt, but I had misgivings about leaving Sinding alive, even to spite a Daedric god. Though Sinding swore to live out in the wilderness of Bloated Man's Grotto, there is no guarantee that he would be able to control his form forever, and the spot is far from an unpopular one. I went back into the grotto to finish the job. This, of course, pleased Hircine even more.

On the way from Bloated Man Grotto to Silent Moons, I happened upon a group of vampires who masqueraded themselves as Vigilants of Stendarr, but their glowing eyes gave them away.

I took a detour up to Silent Moons Camp, a fairly mediocre bandit camp over what looks like old Nordic ruins, which had three mushroom clusters of no particular significance and a locked room with nice high level potions in it. It is somewhat interesting for the Lunar enchanted weapons found here, which might come in handy if I keep the vampirism. The camp could make a decent base if need be, since there are so few bandits in it that it's easy to clear out.


I also apparently spent a lot of time in first-person with magic hands, as is evident by these pictures. Magic!hands!