"Sane? Why, I was sane once! Scariest time of me life!"
- Sheogorath
Sibylla got it, especially in the depth of winter, her two beast friends did not like Skyrim. They had just crossed the border and if her memory served her right, they were well on their way to Ivarstead. It was a small community of no importance save that it was a good rest point for those who wanted to climb the seven thousand steps to Hrothgar.
Alas, they crossed the border in the middle of a howling winter storm. The wind made it nearly impossible to move forward at any discernible pace, they could barely see through the gale, not that it mattered anyway because all the snow in the wind and on the ground turned their entire vision into white. The only reason they knew they were on the road was from the odd cobblestone that still managed to remain uncovered in the frozen tempest.
Under normal circumstances, they would not be out in this weather. They didn't rush themselves but they had to be diligent. They took carriages where they could. Spending a night at an inn became a luxury as they started sleeping under the stars more and more often with often only a fire and their cloaks to keep warm. It wasn't pleasant but it was part of the job.
Bann-Je was more amazed that they hadn't frozen to death. They hugged themselves through the chill, unconcerned that they were in no position to respond to any attack. They were more liable to freeze solid than get attacked in this situation.
Well, it was just him and Do'Ravier who were miserable. Sibylla did not seem too affected about it.
"What is wrong with your province?" Do'Ravier grumbled at the Nord.
Claudia sighed heavily. The last thing she wanted was for the brothers and sisters she worked with in the cathedral to be alarmed by their work. The Inquisition and the Vigil were the ugly, rarely talked about arms of the Divine Cult. For the most part, the other priests and priestesses dealt with matters far more tame and less controversial than what her job handled. The other arms pretended that the Vigil and Inquisition never existed at worst and acknowledged them as a necessary evil at best.
Claudia couldn't blame them.
So here she was, resting on a pew because there was little else she could do while curious and alarmed cathedral staff kept their distance and whispered questions. Claudia couldn't just go to sleep though. Ever since after the incident in Cyrodill where the Anvil temple was attacked by the long unseen Ayleids, the Inquisition was quick to investigate such matters with great prejudice.
On that matter too, she couldn't blame them even if it was absurd at times. Alas, this situation was admittedly not absurd at all.
Members of the Inquisition wore dark robes that seemed as cold and sinister as the name of their division. It also seemed that most Inquisition members preferred to wear their hoods at all times, more so than the Vigil members. This could have all been her opinion, she had no solid data to back it up and it was quite possible that her perception was shaped by the dreariness of their name.
One of their officials approached her.
"Are you all right, Miss Vivinici?"
"I'm fine, Matthias. What can you tell me about the attack?" Claudia had worked with Matthias before. He was one of the more competent officials in the Inquisition. He was an Imperial like her with black hair and dark brown eyes. A long scar cut through his right eyebrow and plunged down his cheek. She thought it fit him nicely.
"Not much, Miss. One Bosmer, an Imperial and two Bretons. They were equipped properly for the job but we think they specifically wanted you. There was a message on their body specifically directing that they kill you, your full name and description." Matthias announced.
"I take it would be too much to hope that they were stupid enough to write down their names on who made the order, would it?" Claudia asked scornfully.
"Sorry, but you're correct on that. However, we have reason to believe it was the Dark Brotherhood." Matthias whispered.
"Them?" Claudia asked, eyes widening in shock.
"Yes." Matthias said foreboding.
"What makes you say that?" Claudia demanded.
"It wasn't simple. Sending four assassins is a bit extreme, even by their measures. However, one of the mages tells me he has seen the the enchantments on their gear before. It was latter confirmed that it was a Dark Brotherhood assassin and their gear bears a similar, if not identical, enchantment marking. If these were not Dark Brotherhood...well, then there's a new band of assassins around who might be even more dangerous. So, you have to ask yourself, who did you royally piss off?"
"No one comes to mind, I'll have to think about it." Claudia replied after some desperate pondering.
What bothered her the most was that the Dark Brotherhood's patron was Sithis, she wasn't quite sure if Sithis was a Daedra either. That would have to be yet another research assignment for Do'Ravier. She almost felt sorry for that cat with all the paperwork he had to sort through. Oh well.
Still, she had to do something about this. Someone had attacked her at her home and more importantly, put innocent people at risk on her behalf. She was going to get to the bottom of this, whether or not her team was with her yet.
"Is there a way we can track them down?" Claudia asked distractedly, still trying to sort through her own thoughts.
Matthias looked back at the bodies and shook his head in discouragement.
"It's not impossible, it's been done before. However, it's very difficult to do so. We will do what we can, but I can't tell you to hold your breath, Miss."
Admittedly, she had never had this much fun even when she was living in Skyrim. Nonetheless, that did not change the fact that they were still very much running for their lives. Just how the whole situation started she was not sure at this point, it mostly had to do with Do'Ravier's curiosity over a mammoth, something he had never seen before.
The bottom line of the matter was that they were running from a very irate giant.
"You just HAD to piss off the giant, didn't you?" Sibylla screeched at Do'Ravier.
"I had no clue they were rather protective of those giant, fuzzy creatures!" the Khajiit shouted.
"How big is that thing's club?" Bann-Je puffed, keeping up with them.
"Into the trees, into the trees!" Sibylla ordered frantically.
"Why does everything have to be pissed off in Skyrim?" Bann-Je whined loudly.
"I believe it was our Khajiiti mage who pissed off the local wildlife!" Sibylla snapped.
"I just wanted to see the mammoth! It's not my fault that stupid thing got easily spooked which in turn spooked the giant elf!" Do'Ravier argued.
A tree behind them let out a thunderous crunch as the giant snapped it in half, struggling to make a path to keep up with them.
"What is wrong with your country?" Bann-Je howled.
Claudia laid down to sleep despite the fact that she had just eaten breakfast. The cathedral was still jarring from the attack last night but regular operations were slowly getting back into gear. After plenty of bickering, Archon Tacitus was able to persuade her to get some rest. The Imperial woman would have continued to press the argument but the fatigue dogging her took the Archon's side. She didn't think that was fair but who was she to argue?
She pulled the covers up to his chin and let out a frustrated sigh. Begrudgingly, she closed her eyes...
And could have sworn she felt herself get transported off to somewhere else.
When Claudia opened her eyes...well, she wasn't back at the cathedral that was for sure. She was sitting at a long table, splendidly arrayed with all manner of fancy plates and dining ware. The wine glasses were polished almost to the point of transparency. There was something wrong, though. It took awhile for her to notice but it was her nose that pointed her towards the answer. Every dish, every platter, was stocked with cheese of various sorts. Even the wine glasses had a wedge of cheese in them.
"Ah, there ya are, lassie. Nice of you to drop in." a heavily accented voice cheered.
Claudia looked across from her to see an older man with grayish, white hair and a smiling disposition. Actually, there was something about that smile of his that she found a little...off. His eyes were also completely dull white. However, if the man was blind it did not seem to impede him as he still looked directly at her. He was also rather flamboyantly arrayed with bright colors.
"Who...who are you?" Claudia sputtered, wondering if she was dreaming.
"Me? Why, I'm quite mad, lassie! That's all you need to know! But tell me now, do I seem so mad?" the man asked a bit too loudly.
Claudia stared at him in bewilderment. He didn't seem enraged, he seemed a bit too energetic and quite off in the head. It was in that moment that she realized he was playing off the double meaning of the word. "Mad" could also mean insane. If this man was insane, and considering the type of conversations she had been having...
"Ah, yes! She gets it! A smart one she is...though I hate it when they're smart, very unsporting. Ah well, as you have unwillingly guessed, I am Sheogorath, the lord of Madness!" Sheogorath declared.
"Oh gods..." Claudia groaned, burying her face in her palms. First it was Azura, then she had a conversation with Arkay and now here she was having dinner with the Daedra lord of Madness.
"Well, I don't know about the others, but I'm here. Would you like me to leave a message for the others? Also, you'd have to specify which others. Might take awhile to get to some of them. Not all of them are very sociable. Very much like cheese, actually." Sheogorath muttered.
"Look, I assume I'm here for a reason." Claudia said.
"Quite right you are, lassie! You're almost as bright as your cat friend, though he's not all that quite fun. Much too attached to his dignity and brain to be of much use to me. The lizard fellow, though, hmmm, he can be quite interesting indeed. Have to get him to strangle someone with their own intestines sometime. That would make me quite ecstatic! So happy in fact, I'd probably go set some children on fire!" Sheogorath declared.
Claudia stared back at him in horror.
"What? Not like they'd burn for very long. There's not much to them." Sheogorath shrugged.
"Just, just tell me why you brought me here." Claudia insisted.
"Ah yes, you're indeed right, we're getting off topic. I like getting off topic. Topically off, if you ask me. Once set the dials all off. What was that poor bastard's name, Sven? Yeah, he was a piece of work. Anyway, where were we? Ah yes, why are you here again, lassie?" Sheogorath asked Claudia expectantly.
Claudia understood that there was indeed very good reason why Sheogorath was the Daedra lord of madness. He was starting to drive her insane. Which admittedly may have been the whole point to begin with. She took a deep breath and tried to maintain her patience. She did not think it would be a good idea to yell at a Daedra lord.
"I-I don't know. I'm under the impression that you brought me here." Claudia replied, trying to smile so to match his civility.
"Me?" Sheogorath asked with exaggerated shock, a hand on his chest. "But, you're one of those all too serious Vigilant of Stendarr types. Very bad at parties, no sense of humor at all. Bad for the health. What would the nonsensical chap like myself have anything to do with the sensical likes of you?" Sheogorath demanded.
"First I start getting visions from Azura and now I'm talking to you. I think there's a connection and that there is something you want from me. After all, I didn't summon either of you." Claudia replied frankly.
Sheogorath leaped from his chair and gave the table a hearty whack with his cane.
"Aha! The lassie does have a brain on her shoulders and some wit between her ears! Even better, she thinks she can talk sense into the senseless by making sense! Actually come to think of it, it worked. No matter. Must remember to set the thieves on fire later. Anyway, I'm so impressed with you that instead of smacking your brain about with your intestines, I'm going to give you a straight answer. You better appreciate it, I'm not too big on giving sensical answers." Sheogorath warned, almost threateningly.
"O-kay..."
"Actually, what am I talking about? I'm not going to give you a straight answer! That would be uncharacteristically out of character of me!" Sheogorath protested angrily.
Claudia stared at him, at a loss for words.
"Haskill will." Sheogorath said.
And with that, a very serious looking man with a hooked nose and long, black clothes poofed into existence next to the lord of madness.
As with all things in Skyrim, the roads had been long and difficult to climb in the dead of winter, especially when climbing uphill into the mountains. They had taken the difficult road north towards Winterhold and cut through several different mountain passes headed to the Shrine of Azura. Finding its location had not proven difficult. It seemed that most of the local Dunmer knew of the place and for an extra pawful of gold, Do'Ravier was able to get one of them in Windhelm to tell them of the specific mountain passes that went off the road to further expedite their arrival. It wasn't easy but it was quick and helped to cut down their travel time.
No one had any substantial reaction to hearing a description of the Peryite priest Furaldur. The mage had vanished into thin air.
"There it is..." Sibylla said breathlessly, glimpsing the marble white statue jutting beyond the jagged mountain faces.
The air was cold but the bright sunlight reflecting off all the snow and stone helped to alleviate that. It was nearly blinding, all of them still squinted from time to time. Neither Do'Ravier nor Bann-Je had better acclimatized to the freezing weather but they had tired of complaining. Sibylla threatening to brain them also helped some. It was just a matter of climbing the path towards the towering statue at this point.
"How did they make that?" Do'Ravier asked as they carefully negotiated with the icy slopes.
"No clue." Sibylla muttered, hands steadying herself as the ground seemed to go near vertical.
"Did they carve it out of the mountain? Do'Ravier knows the Dunmer made it after the disaster at Vvardenfell but if it was carved from a single stone...how much work would that have taken?" Do'Ravier murmured to himself.
Bann-Je just grumbled. He above all wanted to go someplace warm again.
"I'm not a walking book, cat." Sibylla retorted.
"Also, just how are we going to get an answer out of that shrine if there's no one there?" Do'Ravier continued.
"One bridge at a time, Khajiit." Sibylla murmured, unsure herself.
The statue seemed even larger and more imposing, even majestic, up close. Do'Ravier's concerns were unraveled when they saw a lone figure further up the base of the shrine. Carefully climbing up the steps so not to fall off on account of the ice, the trio made it to the lone mage, a Dunmer intently studying the texts in front of her.
"Three Vigilants of Stendarr, sent by a fourth to a Shrine of a Daedra to ask of another. What strange times we live in and they shall grow stranger still." the Dunmer woman said out loud, not even looking away from her books when the three approached.
"How did you know all of that?" Sibylla demande.
"Careful, Sibylla. If she knows...it would probably be best not to alienate her, even if she is a Daedra worshipper." Bann-Je cautioned.
"You are not unwise to be wary of the Daedra, though perhaps you should study more before you bury them all under the same curtain of contempt. You, however, would know the more about that than your peers, wouldn't you, Argonian?" the Dunmer woman questioned.
Bann-Je remained silent and prayed the others would chalk it up to guessing he did some studies in the matter. Their silence seemed to confirm his hopes.
"We're here to ask about Peryite, and we 'd like an answer that is not posed in riddles." Sibylla ordered.
"Very well. Head west, past Dawnstar. Take the road heading towards Solitude. You will find an old man, an Imperial mage in the swamps north of Morthal. Go with him, he will show you the way towards what you seek." the Dunmer mage prophesied.
"We did not tell you what we were looking for." Do'Ravier said.
"You seek the shrine of Peryite. Azura has shown me these things, she speaks to me just as the Divines and Daedra speak to one you hold dear, though you do not know it. Go quickly, do not tarry here. You have a long road ahead, one that will take years and your adversaries are not the kind you want to keep waiting."
"It will only take a few days to get to Dawnstar and Solitude." Sibylla pointed out.
"I was not talking about the road to the cities."
She refused to speak with them anymore after that. She only motioned to them urgently that they get on their way.
Haskill was serious and far easier to communicate with than Sheogorath. The Daedra lord of madness left the table, muttering something about redecorating the place with frog entrails and cheese, while Haskill conversed with Claudia.
Claudia tried to ignore Sheogorath doing some sort of demented jig in the background. He was complaining loudly about how he needed to stop making the fishstick too complicated.
"You must understand, Madam, you're not going to understand the motives and happenings of the Daedra. You must only know that Sheogorath has saw fit to warn you of your next course of action." Haskill explained, his voice an enthusiastic monotone.
"But what's going on? Why am I being contacted by the Daedra lords and the Divines? Even Sheogorath has admitted that Vigilants are not too fond of Daedra." Claudia asked.
"My lady, trying to understand Sheogorath's motives is about as futile as trying to drain the oceans. It cannot be done. Sheogorath is not so much evil as he is a wild card. You must understand that not all of the Daedra wish you mortals ill." Haskill explained.
"Very well, just tell me what must be done then." Claudia relented.
"That you will have to figure out on your own and you are well on your way. Just know that you must never deviate too long from your path of trying to understand the mechanizations of the mage that follows Peryite. He will lead you down the path you are seeking and will take you to a plot much bigger than you can imagine. However, you may be forced to handle other evils. This is just the beginning of the journey, my dear. Do not lolligag too long." Haskill warned.
"Very well. Is there nothing else you can tell me?" Claudia asked.
Haskill opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Sheogorath's overly excited voice.
"All right, all right, enough chit chat there, lassie. That's about as generous as I'm feeling, unless you would like another gift? I'd be absolutely sanguine with intestines if you'd like a touch of bitter mercy." Sheogorath grinned madly.
"I know it is rude to accept a gift, but if I may, I'm going to have to decline on that." Claudia replied firmly.
"Quite right, if disappointing. Besides, you still have to deal with those imps you call your teammates. Those scamps might as well have been sent by me, myself and me again. Now then, off with you, the reindeer games await. Or are they unicorn games? I hated Hircine for so long after that. Hmm, must find a way to send a wereshark his way. Anyway, happy adventuring, I do miss them." Sheogorath mused with a snap of his fingers.
Claudia bolted up in her bed, wide awake, ill rested and out of breath.