Blades

Made a trip into Whiterun to visit with my friend Eorlund of the forge.  He had some much unexpected gifts for me.  First was a long ancient blade of incredibly durability and sharpness.  He said it been traded to him by a farmer of all people in exchange for a number of farm implements.  He the farmer claimed it was a blade of an ancient line of kings from a time of great glory for men.  He said its name was Narsil.  It is an amazing weapon.  I entrusted it to Lidia.

He also had a couple of shields for me, excellent workmanship.  One of these I also gave to Lidia.

I returned the recovered blade to Skjor and he said the family would be very happy.  Bought some supplies while I was in town.

The estate in Pale is coming along.  The tower is now done and is a welcome addition allowing me to move some items out of the main hall.

On the 13th of 1st Seed Lidia and I set out heading east for the statue of Azura.  I discovered the ruins of Korvand and we dealt with a number of militant bandits there, but was unable to secure entry.  The gates were barred. 

Arriving at the statue of Azura, I learned that repairing the star was not to be an easy task.  The reason it feels wrong is because the spirit of Malyn is inside.  The only way to cleanse it was for me to enter the star myself and do battle.  Malyn has definitely gone to the dark side.  He summoned demons, lower scale but powerful in fire, and they were difficult to slay.  Malyn himself was quite vulnerable to the blade. 

The star is whole, cleansed and in my possession once again.

Lidia and I returned to the estate and and I spent some time smithing.  I put a new edge on Glamdring and refined Narsil as well. Gorgeous blades. 

Lidia had a hankering to go north to Dawnstar so we went together.  Picked up some items from the smuggler's cache, which is still active.  And picked up a rumour a cult of people seeking to bring the presence of the demon Boethia into the world near Windhelm.  So we headed that way.  We found it on the 1st of Rain's Hand.  And it was too late.  Boethia's presence is strong here.  And they are consumed with it.  I could sense the presence of powerful mages and powerful enchantments on weapons and armour.  More than Lidia and I can deal with now.  Under the guise of possibily being interesting in joining I learned much and we took our leave as I claimed to need time to consider it.  In truth, I need time to figure out how to eliminate them. 

Leaving we came across an ancient gravesite and there I discovered in excellent condition an ebony helmet with strong ability to magnify the gift.  No idea who it once belonged to, but now it is my helm.

I decided that this fascination with the demonic lords was growing in danger, and it would be a good idea to finish recovering the dagger of which I had but the pomel stone.  So we headed west, through Riverwood, seeking the shards of the dagger.  The 2nd day of Rain's Hand was beautiful.  Springlike.  No rain, no snow... lots of sun. Good for the soul.

It was sad on such a day, to discover a memorial to Talos where many had been slain and still lay.  Bloodly Thalmor.  One dead Thalmor soldier was there with orders to uncover proof of the locations of such memorials.  The Thalmor are trying to extinguish the memory of Talos.  I wonder if the patrol we had ambushed earlier last month in this same area was part of a force looking for these shrines.

We uncovered a dragon lord hall nearby, Shriekwind was it name.  It's current inhabitants were vampires, but no longer.  And skeletons.  They rest now.  The vampire master had made his home deep in the lair.  I hit him with fire and when he fell to his knees, Lidia did the rest with Narsil.  Amazing blade.

And I felt a familiar call, a pull, a word.  The wall was ahead, through a mighty passage, pulsing with power and need to express.  It poured into my soul and became part of me, a word that enhances ability with blades.

High on a ledge outside the hall, I could see the town of Falkreath below.  Lidia and I headed into town.  It looked better from a distance.  For a hold, it is small backward town.  They have heard of dragons here, but have yet to see any.  I hope that remains true for them, for the place is kindling pit ready to go up any moment.  A dragon would make matchsticks of it.

Outside town I ran into the strangest and most concerning critter of all, a talking dog.  A dog that claimed to be the pet of another bloody demon lord.  He wanted an escort back to his master.  Once again, demons in the land, this must be dealt with, so plans changed and I chased this stupid dog halfway across Skryim to a cave in the passes of the far east named Haeman's shrine.  Once again vampires were nesting here, but these were mages.  Dangerous.  Deep inside I discovered the demon was somehow locked to this place and could not depart.  And somehow the dog being here was part of it.  The demon asked me to recover some special axe that would in some way allow him to go free and he said he'd take the dog back.  I made as if to go recover the axe, told the dog to remain for a moment, slipped out, locked the gates, warded the entrances and left.  A demon locked into one place where it cannot hurt anyone is not a bad thing.  Too bad for the dog.

We headed back west for the shards of the Razor.  In Falkreath there was rumour of a fortress not far away that was haunted by great evil.  This sounded promising.  It was filled with miltant bandits, some of them orcs.  And in its depths locked away were indeed the shards. 

Nearby also were very old ruins, a circluar carn built into the earth.  Not sure the purpose.  We could find no entrances or signs of anything more.  It seems strange, but maybe it had a ceremonial purpose for the dragon hall we had already explored. 

I headed home to the Pale.