That Sinking Feeling

Lidia and I discovered why they name the Soljund Sinkhole, a sink hole.  That's what it is.  And it was full of the restless dead.  We dealt with a few such before we even found the sink hole. 

Heading in, I saw signs that this was once an ancient Nordic site of the dragon lords, and then found something that gave me pause.  An egg...hatched...huge.  A dragon egg?  This was  game changer.  If these dragons were being hatched out then who knows how many there are.  Why now?  And where are the eggs coming from?  Have they always been here just waiting for the time for hatching?  I don't know anything about dragon lore.  And of all the books I've read, here and in Cyrodil, I've found no treatise on dragons.  But suddenly I began to get the sinking feeling that I had a bigger problem than a few restless dead.

Lidia and I descended into the pit.  Making our way through a twisting passage we came upon a main chamber of sorts and another dread lord.  Lidia and I were rapidly and seriously engaged and we were not aided by the fact that the ruins themselves were enchanted and throwing fire at us.  The dread lord knicked me with his blade and cold seared me to the bone and I felt as if I could hardly move.  Lidia moved in to cover for me while I regained my senses but as I came to I found Lidia was seriously wounded.  Forgoing combat, I drug her back out the passage expecting at any moment to meet my own demise, but it would appear the dread lord could not leave his chamber, or at the very least he would not enter the passage.  I lay Lidia in what I hoped was a safe place, and made my way back gathering my courage and resolve.

Focusing all power of my gift and the word I brought fire upon the dread lord.  He was strong, and able to draw power from the place to heal, but could not enter the passage so slowly I was able to whittle down his strength by striking from a distance, until finally he fell to his knees.  Rapidly I drew Glamdring and Dragonsting and moved in rapidly completing his demise.  With its death, the ruins quit spitting fire at me. 

I half way expected to find another word wall inside, but nothing of great consequence was found other than a few enchanted and very ancient nordic weapons.  These I secured, for such do not need to be in just anyone's hands.

I used my gift for healing to restore Lidia and the next day we headed out toward the lake that was to the northwest.  From our vantage point on the ridge overlooking the lake I could easily see a set of docks before us.  More recent woodworks overlay what appeared to be an ancient nordic dock that I suspect served as a port of entry for the ruins we had seen earlier.  This was probably a center for some dragon lord in times past.  And it was easy to spot the Forsworn patrolling the docks and the Hargrave that had made its camp just at the foot of the ridge.  Preparing myself, I called on my power of fire, which grows rather immense now, and cast exploding balls of fire at the occupiers.  I was able to eliminate the threat from a distance with only a few bolts coming our way from more courageous archers.   A mage revealed herself by throwing ice bolts at Lidia, which I suspect she rapidly regretted as it merely gave me her position.

We descended to do a quick check to make sure there were no more Forsworn around, which there were not.  I decided to see why a Hargrave might be operating so close to this base and with impunity so we backtracked to examine the lair.  I found a giant tied to an altar of sorts and that the Hargraven witch had been in the midst of brewing something when I had surprised her.  But more surprisingly was this strange noise, the source of which I cannot discern, nor its nature.  Just a strange noise around the altar.

Darkness falls.  I told Lidia that we should ascend back up the ridge to camp.  I need to retrieve Skeeter, the horse seems to have taken to the name, she certainly lives up to it in times of trouble, and it would be a better vantage point given that I was uncertain as to the nature of the place.  I'll try to learn more in the morning about that strange sound.