I sit at my desk in my bedroom at Breeze home. I don't know where to begin this entry. So much has happened in the last few days with the Thieves Guild. So perhaps I will start by speaking of more recent events, since I have been in Whiterun nearly two days now, selling off loot and speaking to the Jarl.
Yes, I spoke to the Jarl this morning about the dragon 'situation'. According to Paarthurnax, last I talked to him, the best way to capture Alduin so that he can be really truly defeated is inside Dragonsreach. In case the reader of the journal is unfamiliar with the events and history laid out behind Dragonsreach I will do my best to explain.
In the time of the dragons there was a great Nord hero named Olaf. Olaf met the dragon Numinex in single combat, he shouted the dragon into submission and then forced him into the keep which was later named Dragonsreach. The dragon was imprisoned there, for how long I am not certain, but I do know that the skull of Numinex can be seen when one enters the keep. (on a different subject, wouldn't that be a fun item to try and lift. I bet there would be plenty of salivating buyers ready to take the skull of Numinex off your hands...) I wish I could remember more of Olaf's history, when I went to the bards college in Solitude many months ago to attend the burning of King Olaf they told me more of the history, but I was so filled up on meat pies and spiced wine that I effectively lost most of the information as quickly as I absorbed it.
Anyway, the Jarl of Whiterun is willing to try and capture Alduin in the keep despite the fact that he thinks it's crazy. But he's not willing to try with the threat of General Tulius and Ulfric Stormcloak attacking him at any time. I respect that, I wouldn't be willing to put my city in such grave danger either. So we came to the conclusion that a peace council must be held, at least temporarily so that the fighting stops long enough to capture Alduin...if that is even possible. I am going to head off to the Greybeards soon, as soon as I return this skeleton key to Namira's Shrine.
Which brings me to my next subject, and by far the lengthier one: the hunt and extermination of Mercer Frey.
We tracked him to Irkngthand, we being myself, Karliah and Brynjolf. Irkngthand is an old Dwarven ruin, as the name implies, however it originated as a Falmer encampment, and is once again one thanks to the disappearance of the Dwarves. While we scrounged through the top levels of this long forgot ruin, the complete savagery and cruelty of the Dwarves was once again made clear to me. I remember vividly one chamber we entered filled with strange and distorted machines of torture that the Dwemer must have used against the Falmer to force them to submit. Perhaps it is better for all that the Dwemer are no more. From all knowledge I have gathered about them they sound like they were a heartless evil society.
As we ventured deeper into the bowels of the ruin where the Falmer now live free where once they were enslaved I had a difficult decision to make: Do we fight our way through, killing perhaps complete villages of Falmer, or do we let them have their dank underground recesses and sneak as well we could past them? The decision was mostly made for me. We had managed to sneak past a few encampments when we reached a large room, filled with Falmer and their lodgings. And in the middle of the room, still attached to it's steam pipes in blissful rest was an enormous Dwarven centurion. Why the centurion had remained in stasis for so long with so many Falmer surrounding it is beyond me. For the moment I stepped foot on the ground near it it awoke. And then the whole damn Falmer village was on us. The centurion mindlessly attacking everything that moved, the Falmer coming after us and trying to avoid the blows of the centurion.
From that point on we killed everything that stirred the shadows. I didn't want anything following us and sneaking up from behind, so we left no survivors. Strangely enough Karliah and Brynjolf took this command complacently. I do not consider myself a leader, so it never ceases to amaze and startle me when people treat me as if I am one. Moving through the Falmer hid outs like this we actually made better progress than we would have had we still been trying stealth. I could tell that we were gaining on Frey, Karliah could too. As we approached a huge gilded Dwarven door she began to visually fidget. I asked her if she was ok, she responded she was, just anxious to get the search over with.
It took all three of us to get the door open as it had been barred from the other side, when it finally did give way, what I saw took my breath away. It was a great statue of a Snow Elf, perhaps it was meant to depict the snow prince himself, I know not. But I do know that it was beautiful, despite it's state of disrepair. But what really caught our attention was it's eyes...or eye, as the right one had already been dislodged by Frey. He was clinging to the statue's brow, working the left eye out of it's socket when we entered. At first Karliah tried to use stealth, thinking that he had not seen us yet, but he had the power of the skeleton key, he knew exactley where we were. He cast some sort of spell, causing the whole cavern to begin to to quake and rip itself assunder. The chamber we were in began to fill itself with water, in the chaos that followed I lost my footing and fell down to the main floor, leaving Karliah and Brynjolf on the ledge above...
Frey's next move was even more twisted, using the power of the skeleton key he cast a frenzy spell over Brynjolf, causing the man to attack Karliah. Mercer Frey then turned his affections towards me. He seemed to be not at all pleased that I was still alive. I told him he could hand over the eyes before or after I killed him, it made little difference to me. He cast an invisibility potion, but he misjudged me vampiric senses, invisible or not, he was still a mammal with very warm blood flowing through his body, I could sense him even with no visual ques to guide me. I chased him across the chamber, splashing through the puddles of water which were quickly turning into pools the more the water level rose. Even with the skeleton key, Mercer fell under my blade relatively fast once I caught up with him, I relieved him of the eyes of the Falmer and the Skeleton Key, and then waded back to Karliah and Brynjolf. They were no longer at each others necks, in fact Brynjolf was nearly on his knees begging for Karliah's forgiveness.
She was more interested in finding a way for us to escape. So was I, but I could find no answer, soon we were treading water, taking turns diving down to search for a tunnel we may have missed when we first entered the room. Since I was wearing my Nightingale garb and Volsung was back at Breeze home I had no capability of breathing underwater so I admit, I began to panic.
Thankfully just as the water had almost reached the ceiling a large clump of rocks dislodged from above our heads, revealing a steep path up. I helped pull Karliah up, and then Brynjolf and then the three of us darted across the slippery rocks, until finally we burst out into the cool night air. Safe.
Which brings me pretty much up to current events. Brynjolf went back to the Thieves guild to report to them that Mercer Frey is dead, Karliah has gone back to Nightingale hall to await news that the skeleton key is returned to its rightful place in Namira's shrine...and I am in Whiterun, debating if I will leave tonight or tomorrow night.
I did go see Farengar today...when I was at the Jarl's palace I noticed him sulking in the shadows. I attempted to simply leave, as I am extremely paranoid about anyone discovering my horrible identity but he cleverly prevented me from doing so. He told the guards that he needed me in his study and that they must not let me leave the keep until I had gone to see him. The Whiterun guards can blindly follow orders if they can do anything, so I was forced to go to Farengar's study. When I arrived he immediately shut the door behind me, the only light in the room came from a row of flickering candles he had on his desk and the crackling fire.
"What has changed about you Rae?" He asked, he walked up close to me and I turned my head away, willing him not to see the truth. Slowly he pulled my Nightingale hood away from my face. Still I said nothing.
"You do not answer, your skin is as pale as a new moon, look at me." I looked up finally, he stared at my eyes, my bloodthirsty eyes. "Can it be?" He whispered, "Tell me, Rae, when did this happen to you?"
Rarely do I find myself short on words, but for a moment I did not know what to say, how was it that he knew I was a vampire and yet still he stood, his face but a few inches from my own? "I don't know," I muttered finally, "perhaps a month now, perhaps more."
"And you have kept it a secret from all, a secret that you, the Dragon-born, the woman who is supposed to save all of Tamriel drinks the blood of her people when the sun sets."
"Yes."
And then he did something I would never have expected any man or mer to do after discovering the truth, he rested his hands on my shoulders and leaned his forehead against mine, slowly muttering the words of a calming spell. I closed my eyes and allowed the feeling of comfort to pervade me.
"Why is it that you do not fear me?" I asked.
He looked up. "What is there to fear? You are still you are you not? You have great constitution Jade Rae, you will do what you must to survive, yet I do not see you becoming a mindless maniac."
And then he led me into his chambers, where we stayed for several hours. In fact I only recently got home. I still have that feeling of peace hanging over me, perhaps that is why I am finding it so difficult to leave home tonight.
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