Turdas, 4:03 PM, 16th of Frostfall

Finally, after all the searching, fighting, and frustration, I have found the Aetherium Forge!  I must honest as well...I did not go to Whiterun as I had said I was going to.  My drive to find this ancient Dwemer mechanism was too strong.  But it payed off in the end, for I hold in my hands an a circlet made of no ordinary materials.  It is a crown of pure Aetherium   The blessing it grants is also an incredibly powerful one. It alows one to have two different blessings from the standing stones scattered across Skyrim at once!  This is truly something of mighty power.  I may wear it for awhile, just because I worked so hard to find it, but I know I will soon put it on display in my manor.  A relic like this could get lost again much too easily.

On my way to find the forge I rested for the night in an abandoned cave near a waterfall.  I encountered an Argonian archer in the cave who had lost his way.  I told him if he accompanied me through the remainder of my journey I would reward him admirably and guide him to whichever hold he pleased.  I truly meant it as well.  The fact that he did not survive the fight with the Forgemaster who guarded the Aetherium forge had nothing to do with me.

I wish that there was a way to forge more Aetherium  but I know of no man who is capable of doing so.  Perhaps I will leave it to those with more knowledge in the art of arcane smithing than I,  I have other, more pressing matters to attend to.  Such as returning to the child who calls me mother.  Still, that title jars me.

Tirdas, 7:56 PM, 14th of Frostfall

I have been working on finalizing decorations and furniture arrangements for my manor for the last few days.  Very tedious work, but I do not want to move out to this place until I am certain that it will be safe.  I hired a carriage driver to take Lucia to Falkreath or Riverwood when she wishes to visit and perhaps make new friends.  I told him she is not to go to Whiterun however unless I am accompanying them.  That is too long of a journey for her to make alone, and although I have faith in the skill of my unpronounceabley named steward, I am still not comfortable with it.  Their have been an increasing number of vampire attacks lately  something which makes me very uncomfortable.  Even though I have cleared out all of the forts and ruins within a ten mile radius of the area, I will still probably check them at least once a month, just to make sure.  I had some very high quality orchalchum locks installed on all of the doors, including the balcony, and the windows are all laced with iron fittings, making them virtually impossible to break through, yet I would assume they don't offer much of a view either.  That wasn't my top concern.

All in all, it's pretty much done.  I am going to Whiterun tomorrow to pick up Lucia and bring her here, I will also probably purchase a few final building supplies.  It's so nice to have somewhere to put certain things that I'm just not ready to part with.

For example those Aetherium shards.  I found the third a few days ago, it was deep in an old Dwemer Market.  On my way out of the market, or I should say, down the mountain that the large underground elevator brought me to, I encountered a dragon priest   This is the third one that I have encountered in my traversing of Skyrim, I must say however, this was also the weakest one, or perhaps I am getting stronger.  He had a mask inscribed with the name, Volsung on it.  he guarded a very powerful word wall that taught me three words of a Nordic shout.  I do not understand it though, it's as if I know the words, but lack the strength to use them.  I believe that when I absorb souls of dragon I gain more power to use these shouts.

Perhaps what made the battle with the dragon priest easier was the fact that for the last week or so I have had the assistance of a powerful Dunmer mage.  I encountered her at the Shrine of Azura, after I helped recover Azura's Black Star.  I had long been wanting to visit this Shrine, but had not been in the Winterhold area yet, about a week ago I had to run up there to deliver a bounty, it was the perfect excuse.  Azura recognized me and asked for my help in clearing her soul gem of the black soul of a necromancer who had bound himself to it.  I did, recovering his powerful armor as well.  This armor I bequeathed upon the priestess of Azura, who responded to my gift by telling me that Azura had given her a vision telling her that she was no longer bound to the shrine, and was free to accompany me in my travels.  I accepted her offer, it's nice to have a fellow Dunmer in these parts where we are so rare, and looked upon with scorn for the most part.  She is very quiet, a fact that I appreciate, she is also a very powerful mage, although i hate to admit it, I believe I may have finally met a superior.  I would hate to meet this woman in battle, she is capable of tossing a bolt of lightning that can knock a dragon from the sky.  That is no mere training, it is obviously Azura's blessing she carries with her.  I am honored to have her as a companion.  We certainly turn heads when we enter a town.

I am going to set out to uncover the last shard of the Aetherium key after I get Lucia settled in here.  I believe it is somewhere in the south east area of Skyrim, towards Riften.  I have never been to Riften  but I here it isn't the most prosperous town, I doubt I'll stop there, unless the weather is horrible.

Fredas, 9:00 PM, 3rd of Frostfall

Had a most interesting experience exploring the ruins of Arkngthanz (probably misspelled) I was in search of the Dwemer Forge for making Aetherium when I entered the ruins, it turned out to be much more complicated though than a simple dungeon delving experiment   The ruins were vast, and torn up as if some giant earth quake had literally ripped them apart.

On pressing further into the ruins I was startled to hear the faint  ghostly voice of a woman calling out to me, begging me to turn back.  Of course I did no such thing, she called out one more time before letting out a low groan of dismay when she realized I had no intention of turning back.  I was quick to discover the source of the voice.  It was a woman, or what was left of her partially decayed corpse.  But her spirit was very much still alive.  I was quick to ascertain that she had no hostile intentions, as so many undead do, but instead wanted nothing more than for me to leave so that I did not suffer the same fate as she.  I told the spirit my purpose  searching for the Aetherium forge.  She then told me her story.  It seems as if the book , The Aetherium wars, is actually a collection of her work that her apprentice stole and published under his name.  In an attempt to prove that she was the rightful owner of the work, she delved into the Dwemer ruins.  However there was a trap set deep in the bowels of this ruin, which she failed to operate properly, she caused the earthquake by setting it off incorrectly, and her demise was quick to follow.

I assured her that if I was to discover the forge I would give her full credit, and try to shed light on her thieving apprentice.  Seeing I was not to be turned back, she offered to help us clear the remaining Falmer from the ruins.  Since she had already been through most of the ruins once, I gladly accepted her help.

It was a long climb up to the summit, but we finally arrived at the puzzle which had ended my ghostly companions life.  She new the first three levers to trigger, it was just the fourth and the fifth which remained a mystery.  I knelt down, focusing all of my inner energy on determining which lever was next.  I stood and fired a bolt of fire at the top right one.  It turned into place, making a positive clicking noise as it did so.  I had done it.  It was just a simple matter of triggering the last lever then.

The massive doors opened.  Through them was but a small ruin, no forge as I had been hoping.  But instead there was the another piece of the Aetherium shard I had found several weeks ago.  My ghostly companion explained to me that there were four pieces of Aetherium total, which when combined would make a key which should let us enter the ruin where the forge was located.

She told me where the other two ruins were located which held the other two crystal shards, and also said that she would meet me at one of them.  It seems a good arrangement   However I will not be going directly to the Dwarven ruin, as I really must get back to Whiterun now!  It's been several days longer than I wanted it to be already, and these ruins are scattered all across Skyrim, it will take me a good week or more to travel to all of them.

I dismissed my Nord mercenary tonight, and am spending one last night at the Winking Skeever.

Middas, 10:40 PM, 1st of Frostfall

Back at Solitude tonight, spending the night at the winking Skeever.  I intend to go clear some Dwarven ruins  South of here tomorrow, and for that purpose hired a sturdy Nord man by the name of Belrand to accompany me.  It's not like I need the help, but I received word this morning that my house was complete and just waiting for my approval, so I want to be as quick as possible with the ruins.  That and the last Nordic crypt I went through I had to leave many a valuable trinket behind because there was no way I was lugging it all out of the crypt.  I wonder if Lucia misses me, I certainly miss her.  It's an odd, achy feeling that is entirely strange to me.

I discovered another Nordic Dragon Word Wall yesterday, I was actually on a mission to slay a slimy Argonian who had tried to use me to get rich, unfortunately for him I had already visited the grotto he had intended on hiding in, and slayed all of the marauders who inhabited it.  when I killed their chief I found a note on his body, which when read to me, I realized was from the Argonian, dictating his plan of using me to put out the lighthouse fire and then attempting to kill me.  Of course his attempt to kill me failed miserably.  I have grown very powerful since I came to Skyrim.  Even without my summoning magic I am capable of spewing fire far and wide and incinerating anything that gets too close.

It was while I was on my way to Broken Oar Grotto that I stumbled across the Nordic ruin, I went in, and was surprised to find that the first room was strewn with dead Draugr, and that they had not been picked clean of valuables.  It was the same story in the next room.  It was not until I snuck into the third chamber that I found the determined Nordic girl who was battling a plethora of Draugr.  I joined in the fight and helped her defeat the attackers easily.  After the brief battle she explained that she was in this ruin looking for a scroll which could potentially link her heritage back to Ysgramor.  She asked if I would accompany her and help her slay the Dragon Priest who guarded the scroll.  Since I had already come that far, and she said she wanted no treasure, just the scroll, I agreed to help her.  We cleared the ruin quickly, she got her scroll, I got a dragon priest mask, and learned another dragon shout.  A very profitable venture.  I wouldn't mind delving into a dungeon with her again, she was also a powerful mage I discovered, capable of casting extremely powerful destruction spells.

After we had finished clearing the crypt we went our separate ways.  One more even unfolded however before I reached the grotto.  A dragon attack.  It was a fire dragon this time, which I have more difficulty dispatching alone because of my resistances   Luckily for me, Talsgar the Wanderer, a bard I have encountered several times in my travels now happened to be passing through the area and lent me a hand.  He is a hardy Nord warrior, with a voice to match his prowess in battle, I felt grateful for his help.

On another note, I was lucky enough to enter Solitude just as the execution of Rogvir, the man who let Ulfric Stormcloak escape the city was being executed.  I hadn't planned it that way, but it turned out to my benefit because I met a high elf who was a member of the Bard's college at the gathering.  Now it is true that I am no friend to High Elves, that I would gladly kill them out on the road for no reason at all.  But this particular one had a certain aura about him that I did not recognize.  Most interestingly was the fact that he had no skill in magic whatsoever that I could sense.  And so when he approached me to speak, I held my tongue and made no effort to off him immediately.

He introduced himself as Viarmo, a high ranking member of the Bard's College here in Solitude, and he asked for my help retrieving King Olaf's verse from it's resting place.  Apparently I have finally started to make a name for myself with my exploits.  For this reason alone, I agreed to help him.  I recovered the verse, thanks to a mysterious ghostly bard who haunted the ruins, and returned it to Viarmo.  I was rewarded handsomely, better than I had expected, and got to benefit in yet another way by attending the burning of King Olaf, a festival that they have here.  I got free wine and meat pies, so I had no complaints!

One last item of interest:  I had a run in with Sheogorath!  At least that is who he claimed to be, and this wabbajack I am now hauling around with my certainly seems to prove it.  It was only a brief episode, but one of note nonetheless.  I entered the west wing of the blue palace, and was from there suddenly transported to what Sheogorath 'claimed' was the mind of the mad emperor, Pelagius.  Perhaps it was, perhaps it was not.  It was an experience I will not soon forget either way.  Sheogorath had me run some trivial errands for him inside Pelagius's mind, and then he sent my back to the Blue Palace.  The whole incident took less than an hour, but I returned, wabbajack in hand, so I know that it did indeed occur.

Well I am off to bed.  Belrand is sitting by the door, polishing his sword.  He is anxious for action.  Good, as I'm sure there will be plenty in the ruins.  I found a book in my inn room on Labrynthian, Belrand read a certain passage to me which seems it may be important if I ever find a way to access these ruins:

Enter Twice - Exit only once
Alteration will lead you to Destruction
Only Illusion shows the way to Restoration
Conjure not but be Conjured instead.

Interesting, I know not what it means now, but perhaps it would make sense in context.

Loredas, 11:59 PM, 27th of Heartfire

  Spending the night at a bandit camp near the Thalmor Embassy.  After yesterday all I wanted to do was kill Altmer...my rage took me so far as the embassy where they keep their zealous selves cloistered.  But the door was fast shut, and I could find no other way in.  It is probably for my best, there is no way that I would have walked out of that embassy alive if I would have run in, spells fully charged, feral scream on my lips like I was planning.

What set off this anger was the small group of Thalmor I met on the road yesterday morning.  I tried to simply walk past them, as I could tell they were looking for trouble.  But luck was not with me.  They stopped me and started questioning me about my allegiance to Talos.  I had no desire to speak with the vermin, thus I refused to talk.  In all reality of all the Nordic deities here in Skyrim, Talos is one of the only ones I have any respect for, he earned his place, and he has a much more multifaceted personality than many of the other 'gods' these people worship.  However I do not worship any of them.  I see no point to it.

But getting back to the Thalmor, at my refusal to speak, they tried to attack me!  Screaming threats and summoning ice atronochs, I summoned my own fire atronach to counter, and then ran, dropping ice ruins behind me to impede their progress.  They wouldn't let me be, they started range spell casting.  It was the closest I have ever come to death, if it were not for the fact that a large cave bear also joined the fight, distracting them long enough that I could get in a few good hits, I would have died there on the road, from the vile Thalmor's hands.  I will wipe this scourge from Tamriel if it takes every drop of blood and ounce of life within me.

I have not been to Whiterun in quite some time, However, I did discover more about the crystal shard which I found up here a few weeks ago.  Apparently, according to a book I discovered on a dead adventurer, it is a material known as Aetherium.  In our present age we have no knowledge of it's workings, but apparently the Dwemer crafted some sort of forge that was capable of smeltering it down and creating items of great value/power.  The book contained a paragraph which highlighted possible places the author assumed the forge may be, but he was by no means certain.  I would like to find this forge, however the few Dwemer ruins I have discovered in my traversing of Skyrim have been sealed shut either by nature, magic, or some other Dwemer trick.  However I am not daunted, if this Aetherium forge exists, then I am sure I am able to discover it.

I will travel back to White run before I set off to discover the forge.  I would like to see how Lucia is, and then perhaps travel South and see how the progress on my manor home is doing.  By now it should be nearly completed.

The Next Night

I am spending the night in the cottage of a very unfriendly dark elf name of Drelas. He proved a most inhospitable host.  And I once again realized just how amazing these Nordic shouts are that I know.  Even though I only know two, they are both very useful, ripping an enemy's weapon from there hand with just my voice?  It doesn't get much better than that.  In this case however I hadn't even attempted to ask nicely if I could spend the night.  Truth be told, he didn't even know that I was in the room until my knife sliced into his back.  He swirled on me, instantly summoning a protective barrier but I simply stood, shouted "FUS" and finished him with another swipe of my blade when he staggered back.

He seemed to have had a small apothecary/enchanting ruse going on in the cottage, he was a very powerful mage though, thus the reason I sneak attacked him.  I probably wouldn't have stood a chance fighting on equal grounds in his house.  I wonder where he trained.

Middas, 6:13 PM, 24th of Heartfire

The harsh, rugged beauty of this land is enough to even amaze me dull eyes.  It's not just the colors that make this land.  It's the echoes off the crags, the howling of the wolves, the crisp breeze which makes the skin feel alive, and the lush wild grass that crushes softly beneath my feet.  I can honestly admit that I do not miss my homeland.  I may miss certain aspects of it, but I would not go back, not for all the septims in the land.

After Climbing to the top of the aforementioned waterfall, I discovered a dragon's lair, thankfully for me, it was resting, so I got in the first his, it was a dragon which breathed frost, an interesting twist on a classic myth I think, but lucky for me, as a frost breather is much more susceptible to my fire spells.

On returning to white run I was (of course) immediately handed a bounty letter for a giant at sleeping tree rock.  I was sure I had just killed this giant, but it turned out that I had only killed one of them, there were three living there in a cave underground.  After a very tedious battle which involved a lot of running, climbing, rolling and dashing, and finally made my way through the three mammoths which guarded the entrance to the cave.  Once in the cave, it was much easier, the dark is my friend, and the giants already had to stoop in the cave, which greatly lowered their ability to fight back.  After I summoned a flame atronach, the battle was easily won in my favor.  Upon exploring the cave a bit more I found the body of an orc, with what appears to be a letter and a diary on him.  I also took his armor which was scattered about the cave, and the two bottles of skooma.  Not for me of course!  Vile stuff.  I took the letters back to Whiterun with me when i returned to turn in the bounty.  I had Lucia read them to me.  Apparently the orc had crafted the armor mixed with sleeping tree sap and layers of leather.  It seems quit nice, and after a few alterations, I managed to get it just my size, perhaps in even better condition than it was before.  The only downside is that it does not completely hide my face, but it is very close.  I do not like people being able to see my glinting white eyes from beneath the hood, it scares the common folk.  But perhaps it will also keep potential rabble rousers from messing with me.  The note also mentioned Ysolda, a woman in town here, as buying this sap, I intend to ask her what exactly she was doing with it, I can tell it has strange magical properties.

On my way back to my land near Falkreath I stopped at Riverwood to pick up some supplies, while I was there I befriended a local dark elf, he seemed a decent fellow, although he was more than a bit smitten with the sister of the shopkeep.  However he proved a true man when the village was suddenly attacked by a dragon!  It was another frostbreather.  I rushed forward to snipe it out of the sky with my flame attacks.  The elf knocked an arrow to his bow and stood by my side, matching my every attack with one of his own.  It seemed the battle was going to be won without a scratch to a single villager, that is until the enraged dragon slammed to the ground mere meters away from us.  I dove to the left, expecting the elf would do a similair action.  I heard not a sound from him until I had placed the final burning blow on the dragon.  It was at that point that my foot hit the slowly melting chunk of ice that had been a living breathing person mere minutes before.  He was a hero, that much is sure, I hope these people remember him.  However hopefully they also learn from his mistake and do NOT try to take a dragon's frost breath head on.  It does not work well.

I finally got the supplies back to my now quickly developing property.  I am not sure yet what I will call this home, but that I am going to turn it into a proper manor home, that I am sure of.  I even hired a steward to watch over it and Lucia when I am gone, although I have not yet moved Lucia here, I doubt she's going to like the idea of leaving her friends.  The steward is a hardy redguard woman, she seems to know her way around with a set of blades very well, and also shows some proficiency at housework.  Hopefully she is as dependable as she is curt.

January 23, 17:53, 2012

Spent a good portion of last night and some of this morning trying to repair Skyrim...not sure what caused it, I think it may have been me making one too many additions to skyrimprefs.ini, but whatever it was I started getting weird stretching textures obstructing my vision, and strange checkerboard textures on certain objects.  Finally had to re-install it late last night, and re-install mods this morning.  I think I'm in the clear, I (of course) had all my save double backed up after I lost my last character due to overmodding, so I was able to get Ravenna back up and running...I also got to see her without Calientes body mod on *shivers* she's...so...ugly!  I just love that body mod, highly recommend it to any one.  Now that I've got all of my mods playing nicely together again, I thought I might as well upload a screenie in case any one is wondering.  I mostly play with gameplay/environment/texture mods, I don't really use any armor mods or mods that add locations/quests, as Skyrim is already plenty big enough for me.  You'll also notice that I don't have apachiiskyhair installed right now, though it's downloaded...well Ravenna is bald, and Apachii sky hair, though a beautiful, amazing mod that I highly recommend to characters with hair, is also a huge mod, so I left it off this play through just to speed up the loading times a little maybe..  I figure if I'm not currently running with it, might as well not load it every time I start the game.  Also, I'm running a 32 bit PAE patched system, so I had to manually initialize better armors and weapons, but they are initialized, it just doesn't show it on the main screen.

As you can see I have several, around 75 I think, I've cut back a lot since my oblivion days when I had around 200 and the frikken thing crashed about every five minutes...By far my favorite is SMIM, I feel so bad for the PS and Xbox players who can't befit from Brumbek's work, this mod is amazing!  Also FXAA injector is awesome for setting the mood, I just use preset one, because I don't think skyrim is supposed to be as warm as some of the other ones, and I don't feel like messing with it any more than that. :)

On another note...signed up for the beta this morning! By the eight I hope I get in! (loyal citizen of the empire speaking)

I'm considering getting a killable children mod just so I can get rid of Braith...

Two days later

Have not been back to White run yet.  I did however finally get a chance to go and see the property the Jarl of Falkreath granted me for my help in driving out the vampires.  It's a nice piece of land, there is nothing on it yet though.  I traveled to Falkreath last night and ordered some logs and clay delivered   I think I'll build a house on the land that I can move Lucia too.  It would be safer for both of us to stay out of town I think.  Especially with the increased dragon attacks.  I believe they are specifically targeting heavily populated areas, and I would feel bad if I came home to discover the little girl burned to a crisp.

On my way to Falkreath from my parcel of land i stumbled across an old Nordic ruin which seemed to hold some sort of interesting secrets.  After venturing in I realized it was a vampire lair!  I now know that it's name is Shriekwind Bastion (very appropriately named) and the locals avoid it at all costs.  They needn't anymore however, I cleared it out very thoroughly.  Even the Master Vampire who was secluded in it's depths fell easily, he seemed weaker than other vampire I have fought recently, perhaps he hadn't fed in some time.  I intend to scope the land around this area very well and clear out all of the bandits and undead that I find if I am going to be bringing Lucia here to live.  I would also have to get her a personal tutor, or nanny or something I suppose as I don't want her in the house alone and I know that Helga won't want to relocate that far from her inn.

Tirdas, 8:40 PM, 16th of Heartfire

Back at Breezehome, but not for long.  This last week only reminded me that my place is in the wild, free and unhindered from societies petty squabbles.

I found Red Eagles sword, and sent the forsworn prince back to his grave, this time, hopefully, permanently  I do not know what I am going to do with the sword.  Perhaps I will mount it in my Breezehome house.  But that only gives thieves an excuse to break in.  Although so far Whiterun's only 'thieves' seem to run Belethor's general goods, and I'm none too concerned about that scrawny imperial breaking into my home.  Lucia could take that man.

Yes, Lucia, that is what I guess she wants to be called.  When I first spoke to her she refused to give me her name, but now, finally, when I returned to Whiterun a few hours ago she ran up to me and told me she was named Lucia.  It's a decent name for a little Nord girl I guess.  This whole 'mamma' thing though is still disturbing me.  I am no one's mother...but I haven't the heart to tell her, and I doubt she'd understand my reasons anyways.  She is very young, but neither of us know how young.  I think I will buy her a new dress from the market tomorrow before I set out again, perhaps she'd like that, her current gown is very dirty.

After I had finished dealing with Red Eagle, I decided to go a little further West and speak with the Imperials about Thorald Grey-Mane.  I arrived at the fort his family had spoken of, only to find it guarded heavily by vile Altmer.  They attacked me on sight, I had no choice but to fight.  And it was a glorious battle.  For the first time I used my new shouting power in battle.  It was amazing, "FUS" and they all staggered backwards, as if hit by some mighty spell.  With the assistance of my summoned minions we made short work of most of the guards  the only ones who gave us much trouble were a few odd mages, but they were also dealt with quickly, just messier.

Thorald was alive, I freed him, and he left me outside of the fort, saying truthfully that Whiterun was not safe for either him or his brother anymore.  I intend to warn his brother in the morning, hopefully I traveled faster than word of Thorald's escape did.  I don't think their were any survivors, so I have a chance that the Imperials didn't find out about the forts sacking for a day or two.  However I traveled on foot, so I may have been slower than their well equipped courier on horseback.  I have found it is very difficult for a blind mage to ride a horse effectively...

While wandering in the frigid area near the fort I found a small boat tied up at a half sunken pier.  Out of curiosity I stepped into it, to inspect it better.  I felt it leaving the shore of it's own will, it was a very short ride, and it stopped on what must have been an island, how large I know not.  There was a large fort or castle, but when I approached the gate a man on the other side barked at me to leave immediately   I felt a strange and powerful magic presence emanating from the place, and I took my leave in the little boat which glided back to the mainland as effortlessly as it had come.  I intend to ask about it tomorrow, although I doubt anyone will know about it, it had a strange aura of mystery to it.

Morndas, 5:04 AM, 15th of Heartfire

Cleared out a Forsworn camp and a mine infested with Draugr yesterday.  In fact I spent an uneasy night sleeping in the forsworn camp.  I have a feeling they have tunnels which lead underground somewhere near here and it was rather a barter of whether or not I'd make it through the night uninterrupted   But I hoped that I might have scared them enough by killing around twelve, including two rather powerful mages of their party that they would let me be.  I am not going to tempt fate any longer however, and am on my way...my way to find Red Eagle's sword...if it is even out there somewhere any more.  It must be though, when i first read about it in a dust old tome I knew immediately that it still existed.  I will find it, and it will bring my fame and wealth.

Heimsker, or whatever that damned 'priest' of Talos called himself is dead.  I killed him.  He was so blasted annoying that I guess the dagger practically leapt from my hand to his throat.  The best part is I did it in silence in the middle of the night and not a sole in Whiterun noticed.  I'm pretty sure none of them are going to miss him either.  Did I mention he was damned annoying?

On a different note...I had a strange moment of empathy yesterday morning when I was preparing to leave Whiterun.  The little girl who I had been somewhat caring for ran up to me and would not let go of me.  She quite literally wrapped her arms around my rough leather armor and clung on for dear life.  I was in a conundrum.  If I were to shove her off and continue out of Whiterun all of my hard work to bring myself fame in that city would have been lost.  And besides there was a little part of my that truly felt sorry for the parent-less  unloved child.  I understood what it was like to have your parents reject you all too well.  As a child that feeling of empty bitterness must be even greater than it is for me as an adult.  I couldn't leave her like that, so I did something very rash.  I took all of the gold I'd been saving to set up a well equipped lair somewhere outside of town and purchased Breezehome.  I had the steward order in some unassuming furnishings for the little girls room, and I gave Hulda a key.  I told this little girl that she should live in the home, and I would come back to see her soon.  I cannot believe it, I have not a coin to my name anymore, but I have a child in Whiterun calling me 'mommy' me, a woman who summons Daedra from oblivion to fight in her name and carves open forsworn for their hearts.  But in some strange way I also feel an aura of peace, I know I did the right thing.

Fredas, 9:41 PM

I am beginning to tire of this errand running business.  I was at Jorvasskr yesterday and spoke with the companions.  Their words made me remember what it is like to be one's own master and not being constantly concerned about where ones next meal is going to come from.  I believe that I am going to say farewell to White run and the bannered mare, at least for a time.  I have one more bounty to run, but after that I am leaving.  I believe they are well enough prepared, at least as well as a town can be, in the case of a dragon attack.  I asked Gerdur to keep an eye on the little girl while I'm gone, and gave her all the gold I have left.  She's a good woman, and I believe she'll stay true to her word.

Now the question is:  Find the rest of the Gauldur amulet, or set off in search of Red Eagle's sword?  I haven't decided yet, perhaps the morning will bring an answer to my question.

Midas, 10th of Heartfire, 8:30PM

Spending the night at the Bannered mare again, the little girl from yesterday is still tagging after me everywhere I go in town, I had to be quite strict with her when I left this morning as she was prepared to follow me to fight a giant.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with her.  I am not overly fond of children, nor do I have any experience in dealing with them.  As far as I know there are no orphanages around this area that I can take her too.  So I continue giving her a few gold a day for food and I guess I'll let her share my room here until I move on.

Speaking of which, at this rate I might as well settle down right here in town at the rate this is going.  The steward of the Jarl only gives me 100g for each bounty I bring in, and I'm not making much else.  I'm going to halted streams camp tomorrow, and also stopping at a cave which a local recommended I check out.  The former holds a bandit leader i will kill for a reward, the later may have some sort of arcane 'word wall' like the one I discovered in bleak falls barrow.

Tirdas, 9:15 PM, 9th of Heartfire

Well I killed the giant, recovered the sword, and the moment I got back to Whiterun and turned in the bounty, I was accosted by another.  This line of work is not profitable enough to make up for the insane risk to my health that it poses.  Were it not for the fact that I rather enjoy venturing out into the wilderness on a mission and continuously coming back victorious I swear I would quit and go find me a nice cave again!  But I cannot.  At this time there are even bigger problems on the loose than one crazy mage can deal with, but I must try.  And besides, I love all of the learning!  All of the unique people!  Well I don't love all of them, there is this one bratty child here in Whiterun I'd just love to take  a stick to, but I also met a little girl today who had no home to go to and was begging for a meal.  I gave her 20g, and am letting her stay in my inn room tonight.  It's not as if I have anything much to steal, and if she is stealthy enough to lift my purse while I sleep, I suppose she deserves it!

Tomorrow I will kill the other giant they had spoken of and then I am travelling West to uncover what may have happened to a certain Thorald Grey-Mane.  He is a storm cloak soldier it seems, I have no love one way or another for either side of this civil war, but Thorald's mother begged me to look into it, and so I consented.

Tirdas, 12:16 PM, 9th of Heartfire

Well, it seems my plans to see the Greybeards have been postponed for awhile.  The dragon attacks have suddenly become much more prevalent  and I am needed in Whiterun at the moment to help protect the city and ready it for another attack.  Although I am still absorbing souls, I have not been able to shout any other words other than 'FUS' which seems to be some kind of wind/forceful shove attack.  I wish I understood this strange ability better.  Once I have assisted Whiterun to the best of my abilities i will go to the graybeards, that I promise.

One of the tasks I took upon myself to complete was restoring the Eldergleam tree which grows in Whiterun's main square.  I do not know how much this tree actually protects Whiterun's citizens, but I know that it is a huge mental relief to them to have it restored.  Or at least in the process of being restored.  It is obviously not an overnight process.  To restore the tree I had to travel to a precipice where a Hagraven lived, kill her and then take a dagger she possessed and harvest sap from the Sanguinary of Kynereth.  Besides the spriggans which attacked, it was a relatively easy task.

Yesterday my time was occupied with killing off some redguard mercenary's who were stalking a Hammerfel noble woman, I'm not sure who was in the right or the wrong, but the woman gave me 500 coins, so I'm not complaining.  She also works at the Bannered Mare where I've been staying, so I figured it was a good idea to keep her my friend.

Tomorrow I am going to Valtheim keep a little ways out of town to search for a man named Amren's family sword.  he wished to join the legion but feels unable without his weapon.  He also promised a reward.  Soon I will have enough gold to actually put a house on that plot of land I was granted by Falkreath.  At least at this rate.  I also picked up another bounty to kill another giant in the same general area as Valtheim towers.  I figure I'll do both tomorrow.  For the rest of today though I intend to just wander the streets of Whiterun, looking for either trouble or information or gold or perhaps all three.  I don't really feel like doing anything else much useful.  I think I may get lunch in the town square today, it smells delicious, I am feeling a bit peckish.  It is so beautiful out today.  The wind is blowing gently, everywhere feels fresh and alive and the smells of fresh baked bread, produce, and savory meats is wafting past me.  I could almost say that my bitter memories of my homeland are not in the forefront of my mind right now.

Night, Two days later

I have left Morthal, after slaying that woman who was, as I assumed, an undead.  The Jarl rewarded me handsomely, however I have already spent most of it in supplies and spell tomes.  I also took down a giant for a 100 gold reward, I'm not sure it was worth it, it was one of the hairiest fights I have ever been through. However spending the night in the giant's well sheltered, very warm and cozy camp was enjoyable, as was the mammoth cheese I gorged myself on.

I went to Whiterun today, things were all in an uproar, everyone talking about dragons.  I laughed at them, I haven't seen one since Helgen.  But then my laugh came back and slapped me in the face as a dragon appeared from nowhere and burned the Whiterun western watchtower to the ground.  The Jarl sent a couple of his best man to take it down, and asked me to accompany them.  I did, not because I had any desire of tangling with another dragon, but because I still desperately need coin, and for some reason I would rather fight a flying, fire breathing creature than another giant.

When this dragon fell, which it of course did, the most interesting thing happened.  Namely, I absorbed it's soul.  What kind of arcane, Nordic magic is this?  I shouted, in the Nordic tongue without any knowledge of it.  I suddenly felt myself imbued with a power unlike any I have ever felt before.  I must learn more, I must!  They say that the Greybeards are hermits who live high on a mountain and can teach me more.  Perhaps I will take a respite from my wanderings and travel to High Hrothgar to learn from these ancient hermits.  I must feel that power again!

Tirdas, 1:52 AM, 2nd of Heartfire

I finally got rid of that damned dog!  Although I must admit that he helped me out in several fights, including one that I did not anticipate against a highly powerful undead mage/conjurer by the name of Volsung.  I recovered a unique face-plate from his remains, it seems incredibly powerful, however I do not know what I will do with it yet.  I do not fully understand it's power, which makes me both hesitant to sell it and also hesitant to wear it!

Barbas, as I mentioned, has gone back to his owner.  The damned Daedra tried to make me slay the dog with his rueful ax  but I'd seen it fight, it was no mere pup, it was a god's minion, and I had no desire to be made a fool of so I refused.  The Daedra didn't seem to upset, and the dog is now back at his side.

On my way out of Hermaeus Mora's dreadful shrine I saw a dust covered book lying neglected on a cluttered shelf.  On an impulse I reached out for it, inside was detailed the story of Gauldur, and his powerful amulet.  Seeing as the tomb mentioned in the tome was close I decided to stop by.  It proved to be an excellent idea.  After navigating the dead adventurers who had cleared most of the tomb for me, I had but to dispose of the undead specter of the son of Gauldur before holding in my hand an actual fragment of the Gauldur amulet.  Now I must find the other two.  I am obsessed with the thought, what arcane power this amulet must hold!

I am currently at Morthal, after returning from the crypt.  I will rest here tonight, sell off what I can tomorrow, and then venture to the next tomb.  There is a strange woman patrolling the tavern, I tried to speak to her by she shook me off bluntly.  Her name is Alva, apparently she was involved with a man who some say killed his own wife and child to be with her.  Something about her isn't right.  I will sleep with one eye open, I feel an evil aura about her.

Fredas, 11:44 AM, 29th of Last Seed

Still have not reached Rimerock Burrow.  Got disoriented yesterday for some reason and wandered into a cave.  A cave of nightmares   First it seemed fine, and as it was snowing it was actually a welcome respite.  However as I ventured deeper I suddenly sensed the room opening up, and my path narrowed to a single wooden bridge.  I should have never stepped foot on it, but I did, for I sensed the warmth of torchlight on the other side, and thought that it must be safe if someone had lit a torch on the far side.  My mistake.  The bridge gave out beneath my feet, sending me plummetting down many many feet into icy cold, rushing water.  The water swept me along, blubbering and coughing as I am no swimmer, and even if I was, the current was too strong, and pulled me through too many underwater passages for it to matter.

I thought it was all over, I was going to be swept to the den of some underwater entity with a hungering for blood.  I was almost right.  I managed to grab the edge of the wall at a turn in the current and pull myself to solid ground but my tribulations were far from over.  Even as I was still struggling to retain my breath I heard the distinctive skittering and hissing of giant spiders.  I had no idea were I was, all I knew was that if I backed up, I was probably dead.  Barbas the dog was no where in earshot, I was alone, for all I knew surrounded by frostbite spiders.

I could hear them approaching, I fired a frost bolt wildly into their midst, but they didn't seem to scatter, leading me to believe that I was on a narrow ledge.  I used that to my advantage, taking a step further away from the edge I blasted them again, this time at an angle.  My wild guess worked, the force of the impact was enough that spiders were thrown into the current.  There was silence in the cave...for a moment.  Then I heard scittering above me.  The sound of a larger spider.  I fired up, hit it, and it dropped down.  I barely dodged it's poison attack, firing crackling electricity from my fingers the whole time.  The second mass of poisonous slime hit me, coating my arm and abdomen.  I stumbled back, but the spider too seemed to be injured, it did not advance, in fact I heard it slowly retreating.  I quaffed a poison resistance potion and followed the arachnid.  It led me to a shallow cave where I finished it off with one more accurate shock blast.

Inside the cave was a chest with a human skeleton draped over the top.  I took the gold, and an ornate dagger, all the time distracted with fear that another giant spider was going to attack me from behind.

There were no more spiders, but as I continued further down the watery path I could feel the room beginning to open up again.  And I sensed multiple hostile forces dotting the protruding land.  Trolls.  I had never faced a troll in combat before, and I guess to be accurate I still haven't really.  I managed to sneak past most of them, as I did I slowly became aware of a fresh draft.  I followed it to a smaller room off of the main one.  Two trolls patrolled in an unorganized pattern, effectively blocking the small exit.  In the middle of the room was some sort of a raised dais or platform.  It almost seemed to be like the roof of a holy building, buries far underground.  In front of it was an altar, I inspected it cautiously, out of eyesight of the trolls, but I was unable to recognize it's shape.  It blessed my however as I continued to inspect it, and the blessing spoke in the name of Auriel, fortifying my aim.  I intend to look into this deity if I ever have the chance.

Unfortunately as I continued to inspect this altar, one of the trolls saw me and howled a warning to its companion which echoes off the walls of the small cave, out into the larger, water filled room.  Effectively alerting every beast in the place.  I had no choice, there was no way I could fight an army of trolls, I probably wouldn't have even killed one.  So I ran.  I ran towards the small door in the cave that I had no idea were it went.  I stumbled up, climbing over rough terrain my only though to stay two steps ahead of the lumbering trolls.  Which, as a note move a lot faster than I thought they did.  They bounded off the walls and leapt over the obstacles with surprising ease, making my blind stumbling look like I was crawling slowly with a heavy load.

I managed to stay ahead of them though...until I reached a dead end.  I frantically clawed at the wall, my hand found a chain and I pulled it.  The wall gave way, I rolled under the door, pulling the chain again at the last moment to slam it down in front of the trolls.  The beasts seemed too stupid to understand to pull the chain.  I was safe.  At least partially.  The room I was in was small, with a dying fire in it's middle.  The draft was now very close, and carried the frigid skyrim winds in it.  Before I left the room though I could not help but notice the dead Breton lying very close to the similar fire.  He had large gashes all across his body, no doubt from the trolls claws.  he must have made it all that way only to succumb to death alone.  I set his body ablaze.  I had no desire for it, and in some way it seemed right, as he had traveled my path before me.

I met up with Barbas outside the cave, the dumb dog must have avoided the rickety bridge altogether and been waiting the whole time.  He was glad to see me though which was nice in a way.  We are now back on course to the burrow, a day behind schedule.

One other item of note, upon crossing a rive via on old Dwarven bridge I found, recessed in a small crevice of Dwarven manufacturing a strange shard, which seems to hold some sort of power.  I don't recognize it however, I'm not even sure if the manufacturing is Dwemer or not.  I will have to get it looked at at some point.

I have almost reached my destination

~Ravenna