This is Spring?

It is the 12th of Midyear and still cold.  This evening word arrived at the Pale estate that a hunting party has gone missing out of Falkreath.  They were supposedly headed into the foothills near Lake Ilinaltra.  Being that Faen is an excellent woodsman and he was on the way, I stopped by Riverwood to pick him up and we enjoyed some warmer weather as we made the southern shore of the lake.  Had an encounter with a couple of rogue mages.  Met a rather astounding hunting woman on horseback and asked if she had seen the party, but she had seen nor heard nothing of them.

We overnighted at a Mill on the western side of the lake owned and operated by a woman named Hert.  I thought to borrow a little shed there for shelter, but we decided to camp among the trees.  The shed had meat from local animals and what appeared to me to be possibly a human rib cage and clothing soaked in blood.  Very suspicious.  And Hert kept talking about being surprised that she had visitors.  I think something strange is going on here.  But it was quiet night.  I got up in the middle of the night and paid a call on her house, just to see what I could see.  But she seemed normal enough.

The next morning we found Hunter's cabin and this man had seen the party and pointed us in their direction.  He said they were after cave bear.  Sure enough, we found the survivor of a 3 person party after there run in not with bear but with Spriggans deep in the cave.  Faen and I did what we could to help him and then went inside to recover the bodies.  We found three Spriggans, two very mature ones, and dealt with them.  We helped the hunter bury the bodies.  He name was Valdr.  We got him into Falkreath and then Faen turned for Riverwood.

But the weather was a bit warmer so I decided to turn north and search out those Forgemaster's fingers I had been told of by the Orcs.  The Orcs are mysterious lot to me.  And at heart I remain a scholar and want to know more.  But I have to earn their trust.  I had uneventful journey to Dragon Bridge.   Lidia met me there.  I reckon Faen had passed word of my destination.

All hell burst loose upon Dragon Bridge.  A huge dragon attacked the town.  There is a small legion outpost here as well as local guards. And it took them, myself, and Lidia to bring the down the beast.  I am glad I was not in the wild alone to face it.

Heading into the mountains I saw another of those strange circle monuments just west of the mountains that are west of Dragon Bridge.  The place called Deepwood was directly north and this is where we were headed.  The mountains were practically impenetrable.  I had to circle around to find entry up into the peaks.  We finally found the passage called Deepwood, and it was infested with Forsworn.  In fact I suspect this may have been a heavy staging area for them here in the west.  There was a book there written of their history claiming they were descendent of the first men in this region and related to the Bretons, but more ancient, an ancient race of men/elf from the ancient days.  And that their lands had been robbed from them by the Nords.  Curious.

At the end of the nest we came upon a heavy bronze door with the mark of what I believe is a symbol for the dragon lords.  And the door opened into the mountains outside and it was incredible. 

We were on a high ridge looking into an old ruin ringed with impassable mountains.  It reminded me of the elf story about that famous elf city of Ondolinde that was hidden in the mountains. This wasn't a city, nor was it likely large enough to be the same place, but it reminded me of it all the same.  It was near evening so we spent the largest part of the night observing.  It was infested with Forsworn, most with bows, and I could sense the power of Magic among them.  The approach was open and visible.  This would not be easy.

It wasn't.  I was wounded by arrows several times.  Lidia used cover and got as close as she could then I drew their attention with ranged attacks of bow and fire.  The she moved in.  We tried to isolate them.  But they were fast and she was soon in trouble.  So I charged in and took out a couple of them quickly, but was hit again with an arrow, this time in my upper left shoulder.  I fired him and sought cover to dress the wound and Lidia took him out as he focused on me.  The rest scattered and we hunted them down one by one.

I found a journal that name the place Hags end and hinted at some kind of working relationship with the inhabitants.  We found the main door to the complex easily as large stairs lead to it.  The out towers I think are later, additions from past the time of the Dragon Lords.  Directly inside the door was an incredible relief in gold, suggesting this was indeed the seat of a Dragon Lord.  And if his ghost was floating around, it would explain why they were reluctant to enter and use those halls.

But it was not his ghost we found, but witches.  Witches!  I thought these were extinct.  Practitioners of the ancient dark art of bound magic.  Witches tend to be people with a small amount of the gift, just enough to sense the source but unable to touch it.  But there is an ancient forbidden knowledge that allows such to bind the spirits of the fallen from the realm beyond and use them as a conduit for manifestation of the source.  Their power is directly proportional to the power of the bound spirit, and these had bound Hargraves, a common target for witches in the past according to legend.  In all the years of my life, as mage and Archmage and scholar, I have not heard of any practicing witches.  But here they were.  And I do not think they were Forsworn, though the Forsworn are very close in their myths and religions to worship of the wild.

I was not far into the hall when I heard the word calling to me.  There was a word wall here.  I proceeded slowly, for in the past such walls have been dangerous places. The witches were dangerous and difficult.  But not impossible to deal with.

Passing through the halls to a high door that opened onto the side of the mountain I discovered the word all.  The word was a word of power over time itself.  There was also an altar there with a sacrificed witch laying on it.  I wonder what evil rites they were doing.  Where they trying to unlock the power of the word within the wall?

 Lidia and I returned home to rest as we were both wounded.